Moral Value of Borrow and Spend Economic Policies Transcript: Congressional Record November 17, 2004

Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of talk and discussion in media and throughout the country about morals and the role they played in the elections. I personally welcome these discussions, but I am saddened by the fact that there has been little talk about the moral values of the government's ``borrow and spend'' economic policies.

This week, we will have a vote to raise the debt ceiling for the third time in the last 3 years. Why? Because Congress has been content to manage the American taxpayers' money in a way that immorally disregards the well-being of our Nation's economic future.

I believe it is immoral for this country to keep racking up debt as far as the eye can see only to pass it on to our children and our grandchildren. I think it is immoral to continue to borrow and spend and ask our soldiers to make the ultimate sacrifice while we refuse to make even marginal sacrifices in our fiscal policies.

Mr. Speaker, last week, on Thursday, November 11, the 278th Regimental Combat Unit left for Iraq. Many of these brave men and women of this National Guard unit come from my district in Tennessee. I was able to visit the 278th in Fort Shelby, Mississippi, the day they went off to defend our country. I wish them luck and offer my prayers for their safe return home.

Now I wish our soldiers' government would take the steps necessary to curb this deficit spending, to reinstate true budget enforcement measures like pay-go, and to pay down this national debt instead of continuing to raise the ceiling, so that when our troops return home, they are not left footing the bill for a war they so bravely fought. As we continue to discuss morality in America, I hope we will not continue to ignore the immoralities within our current fiscal policies.