Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I was on record last night, speaking to the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011 and as to what the many merits are of this legislation. I think it is a fine bill, and I commend its consideration to those on the other side of the aisle; but I have to say the debate surrounding Cut, Cap, and Balance has a certain Alice in Wonderland character to it. It made me open up the old storybook just minutes ago and recall a favorite passage.
I recall Alice asks, ``Would you tell me which way I ought to go from here?'' to which the Cat responds, ``That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.''
Alice replies, ``I don't much care where.'' Then of course the Cat says, ``Then it doesn't matter which way you go.''
I get the sense my good friends on the other side of the aisle don't really care where we go from here. They certainly don't care enough to put a specific plan forward themselves.
Unemployment remains at 9.2 percent. Investment in hiring remains sluggish all around this country, particularly in places like my southern Indiana district. Uncertainty reigns about future taxes, future interest rates, future inflation rates all because Washington continues to spend way too much money, often on things we don't need, but also on important public programs. We need to figure this out. We need to figure it out as a country. Our national debt is over $14 trillion. It's time we come forward with specific plans. Yet the other side still has no plan, seemingly no new ideas to offer to this debate, no solutions--only poll-tested rhetoric.
The American people deserve more than this during this critical time. Our markets certainly are asking for more than this. Standard & Poor's on July 14 said, ``We may lower the long-term rating on the U.S. ..... if we conclude that Congress and the administration have not achieved a credible solution to the rising U.S. Government debt burden and are not likely to achieve one in the foreseeable future.''
We need a plan. House Republicans have been putting forward plans. We put forward a plan already approved to close tax loopholes, something we've heard a lot about, in order to help create jobs by making the Tax Code flatter, fairer and simpler.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source