{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ahead-of-vote-on-tax-reform-king-warns-of-proposals-dangerous-impact-on-national-debt", "Ahead of Vote on Tax Reform, King Warns of Proposal’s Dangerous Impact on National Debt", "2017-11-30", "2017", "2017-11", "Independent", "House", "ME", "Angus King", "K000383", "www.king.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Ahead of Vote on Tax Reform, King Warns of Proposal\u2019s Dangerous Impact on National Debt\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\u201cIt\u2019s Shameful, and It\u2019s Going to Come Back to Haunt Us.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tThursday, November 30, 2017\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) spoke on the Senate floor about the dangerous impact the Senate tax reform proposal would have on the national debt. Senator King\u2019s comments came during debate on an amendment he offered to refer the bill to committee with instructions to create a deficit-neutral proposal, which the Senate voted on tonight. His amendment was defeated by a vote of 48 to 52.\r\n\u201cOne of my concerns\u2026that I want to focus on today, and the background of my amendment which recommits and asks that the Committee come back with a deficit-neutral bill, is the debt and the deficit,\u201d said Senator King, who then turned to a chart of federal debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (linked below as Chart 1). \u201cIf you notice there\u2019s a pattern here\u2026the pattern is that when we get into major catastrophes \u2013 including war \u2013 that\u2019s when we have to borrow money\u2026this is why you preserve your borrowing power for when you actually need it\u2026\r\n\u201cLook where we\u2019re headed \u2013 we\u2019re headed to a place where we aren\u2019t going to be able to sustain this debt. Everybody knows that, and yet the bill that we\u2019re voting on today expands the deficit by somewhere between half a trillion and two and a half trillion dollars, depending upon how it\u2019s all sorted out\u2026it\u2019s shameful, and it\u2019s going to come back to haunt us\u2026\r\n\u201cNow I\u2019ve been around public life and politics for a long time, and I\u2019ve heard a lot about deficits, and people are concerned about deficits \u2013 until today! The deficit doesn\u2019t seem to be a big deal anymore. I predict that after this bill passes, within a couple of years when the deficits start to mount up, the same people who are voting for this bill today are going to say, \u2018Oh my goodness, we have these huge deficits, what are we going to do? I think we have to cut entitlements, we have to cut Social Security, we have to cut Medicare and certainly we have to cut all those domestic programs.\u2019 Well [Mr. President], I don\u2019t think that\u2019s right\u2026\r\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is simply borrowing money from our children to give ourselves tax cuts. That\u2019s really the essence of what\u2019s going on here. If we were cutting taxes on a revenue-neutral basis, that would make sense\u2026but instead, all we\u2019re doing is shifting the tax to our kids\u2026If 5 year-olds knew what we were doing and could vote, none of us would have a job \u2013 because we are spending their money. It\u2019s as if you\u2019re lying on your deathbed, you call your children over to hear your last words, and your last words are \u2018Here\u2019s the credit card, we had a great vacation, your mother and I. You pay the bill.\u2019 That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing, and it\u2019s wrong. It\u2019s unethical \u2013 we are passing the bill onto our children\u2026\r\n\u201c\u2026the idea that these tax cuts are going to pay for themselves? It\u2019s never happened. It\u2019s never happened, it didn\u2019t happen to the Bush tax cuts, it hasn\u2019t happened in Kansas, it just hasn\u2019t happened. So we\u2019re talking about a dramatic increase in the federal deficit on top of what\u2019s already coming\u2026 these are the times when we should be paying back this debt, not making it worse. No rational business would be taking on debt when they\u2019re doing well \u2013 when you\u2019re doing well, you pay down your debt, and then you have a reserve for when you need it. We have no reserve \u2013 we\u2019re using up our cushion. We\u2019re using up whatever cushion we might need for disasters, for some kind of \u2013 heaven forbid \u2013 conflict, or simply for a recession. This is an incredibly destructive bill, and it doesn\u2019t have to be that way\u2026\r\n\u201cThere are many other issues with the bill, but I chose today to focus in my remarks and also on my amendment, on the effects on the deficit because I think it\u2019s one of the most long-term threats. In fact, a former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the national debt is the most serious threat to our national security in the long run. And to aggravate it unnecessarily as this bill would do, I think is irresponsible. Mr. President, we can do better \u2013 I am sure of that \u2013 if we\u2019ll slow down, listen to one another, and do what the American people expect of us.\u201d\r\nSenator King, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, has consistently called for a responsible, balanced and long-term approach to addressing our national debt and deficit. In 2016, he was named a \u201cFiscal Hero\u201d by the Campaign to Fix the Debt, a nonpartisan movement to put America on a better fiscal and economic path.\u00a0\r\nChart 1: Federal Debt Held by the Public as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ahead-of-vote-on-tax-reform-king-warns-of-proposals-dangerous-impact-on-national-debt"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8911360055208206, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}