Senate Proceeding 07-29-11 on Jul 29th, 2011 :: 4:41:20 to 4:59:00
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4:41:18 to 4:41:38( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: more money than i ever believed would be possible. so far he spent over $10 trillion in three years and next year if he has his way will spend another $3.5 trillion. i remember so well in the clinton administration, i think it was 1995, i was outraged, i came down this to this podium and said can you believe a president has a budget of

4:41:20 to 4:59:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: James Inhofe

4:41:39 to 4:41:59( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: $1.5 trillion, and this president has spent $10 trillion in this short time. if he hadn't spent all this money we wouldn't be talking about a debt limit increase right now. i hate to sound so partisan about it but it's truly a partisan issue. the democrats have supported his spending and the republicans have not. the boehner plan that we're

4:42:00 to 4:42:21( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: going to vote on, they're going to vote in the house today and i think we might have an opportunity to vote on here later on tonight, may not be perfect. none of the stuff around here is perfect but it is good and has dramatically improved over the last 12 hours. it allows the debt limit increase but only after we significantly cut spending. never before have we tied in the

4:42:22 to 4:42:42( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: history of this country a debt limit increase to spending cuts. but it's something we have to do now and that we are so far into this mess. the first step of this plan cuts spending by over $900 billion in exchange for a $900 billion increase in debt limit. that will last the president to

4:42:43 to 4:43:03( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: around february and i think it's a fair deal. i'd like to cut the spending more but we can only do so much when we only control the house. the second step of this plan is also good. it establishes a mechanism to quickly consider $1.8 trillion in additional spending cuts between now and the end of the year.

4:43:04 to 4:43:25( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: it also requires congress to pass a balanced budget amendment to the constitution and accepted it to the states for ratification. this is something that just happened in the last 12 hours. people were talking about well, we really want to do something, a balanced budget amendment is the only way it's going to be good for now and for the future. and we've been talking about this for many, many years.

4:43:26 to 4:43:47( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: i remember so well way back in -- oh, the 1970's i was in the state senate in oklahoma when carl curtis, a wonderful gentleman from nebraska, he was a senator, had been a senator for quite some time, he was the perennial author of the balanced budget amendment but he never could get it through but he had an idea. he came to me in the state of

4:43:48 to 4:44:08( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: oklahoma and he said you know, inhofe, we have been trying to get this balanced budget amendment for a long time and the excuse they use is you're never going to get the required number of states to ratify it. he said i've come up with an idea. we will get 3/4 of the states to preratify a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. to the constitution. that's kind of an ingenious thing.

4:44:09 to 4:44:29( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: why don't you be the first state? so i did and we passed by resolution in my state of oklahoma in 1975 i believe it was a ratification of a balanced budget amendment to the constitution that didn't exist. that's kind of neat. and we actually got up to almost three-fourths of the states and some of the other forces knocked it down.

4:44:30 to 4:44:51( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: that's how long we've been doing this. there hasn't been one year that we talked about a balanced budget amendment that -- that -- that hasn't come up for discussion. well, this is probably the first time that it is a possibility. because we've never been in this spending situation that we're in right now. as i said, $10 trillion in just three years.

4:44:52 to 4:45:12( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: so right now, we -- we added that just in the last 12 hours and if that legislation passes, the president will get an additional debt limit increase so we're tying it to behavioral patterns and spending and austerity and it's a smart way too do it. this -- this proposal would keep the debt limit and spending debate at the forefront of the national conversation. we must have this conversation.

4:45:13 to 4:45:33( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: if we don't, we'll be worrying about things a lot worse than an increase in the debt limit. the president wants nothing to do with this. he just wants to -- a blank check to increase the debt so he can continue to raise deficits. why do i think this? well, if we undid all of his policies today, the policies

4:45:34 to 4:45:55( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: that so rapidly increased the spending and are killing our economy, then we wouldn't need a debt limit increase. the president's spending addiction is it only -- now, this is unilateral. this is the president of the united states. this was his budget, so it's not a group of people, it's him. and a lot of people are looking -- in washington say, don't any of them really care? well, there's one guy that doesn't and that's the president

4:45:56 to 4:46:16( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: of the united states. his -- his action are what we're talking about today and we'll look at the failed policies. first, we have obamacare. there it is. obamacare. now, we're talking about a -- right now trying to get something like $800 billion in all these negotiations so that we can increase the debt limit.

4:46:17 to 4:46:38( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: in one fell swoop, $1.5 trillion. his plan costs, over the current decade, once it's fully implemented, the ten-year cost nearly doubles to $2.5 trillion. this law dramatically expands the government's influence and involvement in the health care sector and together with medicare and medicaid, it will result in the financial ruin of this great county.

4:46:39 to 4:46:59( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: -- of this great country. so that's $1.5 trillion. second, we have the failed stimulus plan. we all know that it didn't meet any of obama's expectations. of course, it clearly met all of mine. i didn't expect much. it didn't help the economy a bit. it only expanded the size of government. i can remember when we, down here, even though we were opposed to it, i'm among the

4:47:00 to 4:47:21( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: most conservative members. senator boxer's a very proud liberal and she and i together tried to have an amendment to take some of the money, the $800 billion, and put it -- a large amount into infrastructure. right now we have to have roads and highways and bridges. that's what we're supposed to be doing up here. and, of course, they didn't do it. only 3% of the $800 billion went

4:47:22 to 4:47:43( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: for that type of infrastructure. over a trillion of this amount, once you add the costs -- that's thousand would get up to a trillion, the cost of interest that we have to pay for the practice spending. so that's a total now of $2.5 trillion. so you've got your stimulus, a trillion, y obamacare, $1.5 trillion.

4:47:44 to 4:48:04( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: then there's the president's relentless pursuit of regulation legislation for regulation. whatever the president hasn't been able to legislative accomplish, is he attempting to do it through regulation, most of it through the environmental protection agency. now, cap and trade is a good example. you know, we debated that since -- well, since the kyoto treaty was up and clearly the

4:48:05 to 4:48:26( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: votes aren't there. right now in this chamber, you wouldn't get 25 votes for a cap and trade. and yet everyone's talking about how the debt's important, we're going to have a cap and trade. so now he's trying to do it with -- through regulations. now, that alone would cost the american people $300 trillion to $400 trillion a year. not just one shot.

4:48:27 to 4:48:48( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: that's a year. he has his boiler mack legislation. that's maximum attainable emissions -- maximum obtainable controlled technology. in other words, what can we do. what do we have the technology to do to stop the emissions? well, we don't have it. but he as that and, of course,

4:48:49 to 4:49:09( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: that is billions of dollars a year. ozone regulations, i understand just -- he was going to announce this week a tightening of the ozone regulations that would put 608 of our counties in america out of attainment. i'm from the state of oklahoma, they put 15 of our counties out of attainment.

4:49:10 to 4:49:30( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: that means in those counties, they can't recruit industries, they can't hire people. manufacture them would have to go out of business because of these ozone regulations. and it's not even in my opinion legal the way that he's doing it because he's supposed to be addressing it every five years. and when he did it -- and when it was done in 2008, it was done on new technology -- that's a requirement -- and yet today he's trying to do it using the

4:49:31 to 4:49:51( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: same old 2008 technology. again, extremely expensive. it's cast a tremendous cloud over the uncertainty of the business sector and that's a key reason why it has announced today that the economy's only growing at a rate of 1.3% a year. that's terrible, especially when you consider the recession that we're in. generally, as a general rule,

4:49:52 to 4:50:12( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: economies recover rapidly when coming off of a financial recession. it's not unusual for countries to grow at 4% and 5% and 6% for the years following a recession. but we can't even get around 2%. this has a huge negative effect on the economy and on the government. the president's regulatory agenda is the reason for our unemployment rate above 9% and

4:50:13 to 4:50:34( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: it's the reason that our economy is growing so slowly. and because of this, our tax receipts are way off their historic levels. now, if we can get the economy to grow faster to sustain -- at a sustained period of time, the effect on tax revenues is really unbelievable. i used to say -- and it's pretty well accepted -- that for a 1%

4:50:35 to 4:50:55( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: increase in the economy, it -- it equals about $50 billion in new revenue. and that's the way to grow revenue. certainly president kennedy knew it. president reagan knew it. and so the best way to increase revenue is to -- is to get the economy moving again. and, of course, increase the -- the economy.

4:50:56 to 4:51:16( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: if the economy grows at a rate of 1% faster than presently forecast for the next decade, then federal tax revenues would grow by nearly $3 trillion. and i conservatively estimate that the cost of federal revenues of the president's regulatory agenda has been a trillion dollars. so we have there, through his regulatory behavior, another

4:51:17 to 4:51:39( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: trillion dollars. that brings our total to $3.5 trillion. then there's an increase in nonsecurity discretionary spending which added up to $500 billion in spending. so we have now the cost of $500 billion and there's expanded and increased spending on unemployment benefits, which are

4:51:40 to 4:52:02( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: also a consequence of his regulatory policies that have killed the economy and its recovery. and the cost of that is another $500 billion. so together, all these failed policies add up to $4.5 trillion contribution to the federal deficits. since inauguration day, the

4:52:03 to 4:52:25( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: debthas increased by $3.7 trillion. it's on pace to increase by more than $5 trillion by the end of the president's first term f. we -- term. if we undid all of these failed policies, we wouldn't find ourselves in the situation we find ourselves in today. we wouldn't be here today debating this because it wouldn't be necessary. it is because of the president that we are even talking about raising the debt ceiling today. if we could undo the president's policies, we wouldn't need to

4:52:26 to 4:52:47( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: raise the debt ceiling at all. and where's the president? he's been totally absent from this entire debt conversation. today he's meeting with a terrorist from cote d'ivoire and he's probably going to go and play golf in the afternoon. i don't know. but he doesn't -- he's not around here. he's not participating in this. he doesn't seem to care about debating the debt ceiling. he just wants to raise the deficits.

4:52:48 to 4:53:08( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: if he did care, he'd see the need for the boehner plan, endorse it and sign it into law but i guess that's too much to ask. well, we're going to have a chance to do this tonight. we're going to have a vote over in the house on the boehner plan i think around 6:00. then it's going to come over here. we'll have an opportunity to do that.

4:53:09 to 4:53:30( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: and if the democrats will support, just a handful of them, we would be able to get that passed. so we'll wait until tonight and see -- see what and, mr. president, since i mentioned the terrorists who's visiti right now, let me kind of elaborate a little bit because it's something that people are -- are really kind of

4:53:31 to 4:53:52( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: looking the other way right now. they don't know what is going on in africa and i have been on this floor nine different times talking about the atrocities that have been committed in this little country called cote d'ivoire. they had a president there by the nam laurent gbagbo. he and his wife are great

4:53:53 to 4:54:13( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: people, friends of this country. and an election took place that i stood here and showed how it is fraudulent, and a guy -- when it was, his name is alassane ouattara. and right now, as we speak, as this very moment, president obama is meeting with the rebel leader and the potential war criminal alassane ouattara in our nation's oval office. this is an unwise and grossly

4:54:14 to 4:54:34( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: misguided decision on behalf of president obama. it is, in fact, an outrage that our president would welcome with open arms a man who's responsible for at least 3,000 people and the displacement of a half million refugees in the african county of cote d'ivoire.

4:54:35 to 4:54:55( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: ouattara is an i will legitimate usurper -- illegitimate usurper who has scandalized cote d'ivoire's democratic system and u.s.a.d democratic incumbent gbagbo. beginning last year, ouattara fraudulently won the presidential election. and after president gbagbo revealed the fraud, he led a rebel army that violently

4:54:56 to 4:55:18( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: overthrew the gbagbo government with the support of the french military, which wrongly intervened in this former french colony. this is a mr. president. this is a -- one of ouattara's death quads going through, murdering, maiming, raping. it's happening right now as we speak. and who is in the president's office? alassane ouattara. as a result, amnesty

4:55:19 to 4:55:43( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: international reported on july 28 that half a million evorians are displaced in post-election violence and are prevented from returning home because of a climate of fear that continue to rein in this country. amnesty international specifically singles out ouattara's security forces and his

4:55:44 to 4:56:04( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: militia, composed of dozens of dozos, they're called, who continue to ethnic gro dozos traditional hunters are mercenary groups that both amnesty international and the international committee of the red cross for carrying out the massacres in april of at least 220 people in the western town of duekoue.

4:56:05 to 4:56:27( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: now here they are, folks, mr. president. see the charred bodies down here. all murdered by ouattara, who's in the president's office right now as we speak. here's the executions going o. there's the burning and beating the back of one of the opponents, one of the -- the political opposition. and that's what's happening today. amnesty international alleges that these forces under ouattara's command are

4:56:28 to 4:56:48( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: continuing to engage in -- i'm quoting now -- "documented crimes under international law and human rights violations and abus executions and other unlawful killings, rape and other sexual violence, torture, other ill-treated and arbitrary" -- i'm reading now.

4:56:49 to 4:57:09( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: this is from amnesty international. "and arbitrary arrests and detention as well as the consequences of a high levels of displacement, pervasive insecurity and international destruction -- and intentional destruction of homes and other buildings not justified by military necessity." and there -- what they're talking about is this. you can see this person being

4:57:10 to 4:57:30( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: tortured to death. this actually was someone from the cabinet. wasn't this one from his cabinet? yeah, he was from the gbagbo cabinet and he's tried to make the statement, ouattara has tried to say that he's hiring some of the gbagbo's of the previous administration. that's when he's right in the middle of killing. he died right after this.

4:57:31 to 4:57:52( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: this right here, they're executing someone. this is her to person th was -- they found was a gbagbo supporter. this is happening today as we speak. ouattara's bloodletting seems unabated and he does not seem to be interested in restraining his forces from eliminating perceived pro-gbagbo supporters. he does not deserve an invitation to our white house or an audience with the president

4:57:53 to 4:58:14( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: in the oval office. instead, by participating in our nation's budget crisis, president obama is meeting with this killer and human rights abuser even today while alassane ouattara is in the president's office. his death squads are roaming the streets of abidijan.

4:58:15 to 4:58:21( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: it's an outrage and maybe now we understand where some of the priorities are.

4:58:47 to 4:58:59( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: with that, a senator: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.