WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representative David Schweikert (AZ-01) delivered a speech on the House Floor last night to discuss how the United States federal government has borrowed $72,932 every second over the past year and pointed out that every dime that Congress votes on is now on borrowed money. Rep. Schweikert also explained the consequences facing America’s middle class if Congress fails to get the nation’s fiscal house in order.
Excerpts from Rep. Schweikert’s floor speech can be found below:
Click here or on the image above to view Rep. Schweikert’s remarks.
On borrowing costs over the past year reaching $72,932 every second:
[Beginning at 0:18 mark]
“This is what we’re borrowing per second over the last 12 months. Every single second we’re borrowing $72,932. And $20,000 of it is just interest, and it gets dramatically worse between now and the rest of the decade. So there’s a punch line here I need you to understand. How many times have you listened to members walk behind these microphones and do this, ‘Well, I don’t get to vote on mandatory spending. I only vote on discretionary.’ Seriously? You’ve been here how long, Mr. Speaker Pro Tem? It’s our mantra. ‘Well, I vote on defense and non-defense discretionary, and that is like 30% of the budget.’ Well, guess what? Every dime we as members of Congress now vote on is borrowed. It’s all borrowed money.”
On the Left’s Orwellian-named “Inflation Reduction Act”:
[Beginning at 2:48 mark]
“In February and March, I came behind this very microphone and I predicted that we’re actually headed towards borrowing $1.8 trillion, and I got mocked. I have to apologize. I was wrong. It wasn’t $1.8 trillion. We’re heading towards $2.2 trillion. It’s much worse. And you just heard the Left talking about how wonderful everything is. Explain to me how in May 2022, we thought the budget deficit for this year would be about $870 billion, and now we’re heading to $2.2 trillion. What happened? Medicare costs went up dramatically. Tax receipts have fallen. So you heard about how wonderful this economy is. Isn’t it neat? We’re doing all these subsidized projects. Government is handing out money to anyone who wants to build a factory. A socialized, nationalized economy. We functionally soft-nationalized the chip industry. Isn’t it wonderful? Think about what’s going on, and yet tax revenues have fallen actually fairly dramatically. Brilliant economics once again from what the Left did last year [with the Inflation Reduction Act]. And then the third thing no one seems to want to fixate on — that Inflation Reduction Act that they passed — you know that they were celebrating here. If you even read the left-wing economists in their journals, about half of inflation was supply chain stress, and yes, half of it was the excessive spending. So the people in my community, unless you’ve had a 20% pay hike, if you live in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area, you are poorer today than you were 24 months ago. Will the Left take responsibility for that? Will they take responsibility for the 50% of it? This is the insanity and the wheels are coming off and no one else seems willing to come behind these microphones and tell the truth about what’s happening.”
On Democrats’ math problem when they promise to tax Americans who make over $400,000 per year:
[Beginning at 13:19 mark]
“Nine years from now, the Social Security trust fund is empty. So that first year, 2033, $616 billion is the shortfall that if you’re an average couple in America, that’s a $17,200 cut to your Social Security check. We will double senior poverty. How many people have you seen come to this microphone to say, ‘I give a damn about seniors! I don’t want to double senior poverty.’ Have you seen the stories of how many baby boomers are starting to live on the streets in America? And the projections … and then we’re going to tell these people we’re taking 25% of their Social Security check from them? That’s nine years from now. But the problem is that first year, let’s do one-year math, 2033, that’s $616 billion. Let’s do the Democrats’ suggestion. We’re going to tax people over $400,000. Take everyone over $400,000. You pay your Social Security, your FICA taxes up to $160,200. Then you don’t pay any more. But when you hit $400,000, everything up, you’ll pay the 12.4% Social Security tax. Great! It’s $80 billion. The shortfall is $616 billion. But the Democrats’ solution is $80 billion. Does anyone see a math problem?”
On the middle class being dramatically poorer today than when President Biden first took office:
[Beginning at 21:48 mark]
“And we’re hitting numbers — the $2.2 trillion we will borrow this year — we were not supposed to hit for a decade. We are borrowing now at rates that we were not supposed to see for years. This is the Democrats’ economy. This is what sort of nationalizing much of the industry, you know, the chips industry, the green energy industry handing out the cash. Something happened. We’re building all these factories, but we’re getting no tax receipts from it. Something’s gone horribly, horribly wrong out there. Instead of our brothers and sisters on the Left and those of us on the Right coming together and saying we have a moral obligation not to have baby boomers on the street as part of their retirement, not to double senior poverty. To my young kids, yes, I’m an old dad. I have a 14 month old and an eight year old. Do they deserve to have a future? Because CBO math basically says in 20 years, if we want to maintain baseline services as they are today, we have to double taxes. That means my kids live in a world where they’re dramatically poorer than how all the rest of us have lived. And you want to know why the middle class is so cranky? Once again, back to something I said in the beginning. The middle class in this country is poorer today than there were 24 months ago. If you live in my community, if you haven’t had over a 20% pay hike in the last 24 months, you are poorer today than you were before.”