As a stalwart steward of the taxpayer dollar and dedicated servant of the 9th Congressional District of Ohio, rest assured that I stand ready to work with my colleagues to make the tough decisions necessary today, as we did in the 1990's, to bring our nation back to fiscal and budget responsibility. We cannot continue forward as a nation without the compromises necessary in both spending and revenue to achieve a balanced budget. The future of our nation depends on taking these actions. However, it must be noted that we cannot, and will not, make these decisions without the careful thought and consideration necessary to ensure that as we make this difficult choices in our finances, that our region and our nation remain competitive in the global economy.