Disapproval Resolution Relating to Debt Limit Increase

Floor Speech

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Mr. STUTZMAN. Madam Speaker, I'd like to thank the gentleman from New York for yielding on such an important subject that we're talking about today.

I would like to make a couple of points in reference to what the gentleman from Massachusetts just made regarding the Republican Party. And I would say that the Republican Party did make mistakes at the beginning of this decade. I would say the Democrat Party has made some mistakes in the last several years. I think there's plenty of blame to go around for both parties in Washington.

But there's a new crew in town. There's 87 new Republicans that were elected last November from all across this country who have joined those in our party who are saying stop the spending. Stop the madness. We're working against ourselves, folks.

Madam Speaker, I would say that we wouldn't have to continue having this discussion if we would stop spending, stop borrowing, and then we would focus on the economy. It's going to take both sides to come together to fix the problem within our economy.

We're going to have to control our spending. We're going to have to help those Americans who are out there and those who are actually establishing jobs, those who are creating jobs. It's not the U.S. Government that is going to create the jobs for those who are unemployed.

I believe that we have a great opportunity right now to again say, let's stop this sort of spending binge in Washington, D.C. We're passing on debt to our kids and our grandkids. This is an opportunity for us to come together, both parties, and say, let's forget about the sins of the past. Let's pay those bills. But let's not continue to spend the way that we're spending today.

From a debt of $79 million when the Revolutionary War ended, the United States has racked up a debt of nearly $14.6 trillion. It would take nearly everything that Americans produced in all of last year to pay off the existing national debt.

Right now I see two competing visions in Washington and across this country, Madam Speaker. The first vision is the ``business as usual'' vision. And we see a lot of that right here in Washington. It says we need to blindly increase our debt; and if people complain, call it investment instead of debt.

In May, President Obama called for a no-cuts-attached increase to the debt ceiling. He didn't give up his call for a blank check until his request had failed here in this House by an overwhelming and bipartisan vote of 97-318.

The second vision that I hear a lot about back in Indiana is the same vision and the same work that families do every year. You figure out how to live within your means. You have real cuts, not budgetary gimmicks. You don't fool yourself when you're sitting around the kitchen table trying to figure out the mess that you find yourself in. It's based on the truth.

Families sit down at the kitchen table and have the heart-to-heart talks about the situation that they're in. Two conclusions that they usually come to are, we have to cut spending, and we're going to have to figure out how to bring more dollars in. It accepts the challenge, Americans accept the challenge, knowing that these things are not easy.

We know that the ``business as usual'' vision, it's broken, and it will inevitably lead us to ruin and more ruin. This vote is a vote against that vision.

I come to the floor to support the second vision, the vision that Americans across this country support, a vision that is shared by the men and women of northeast Indiana. It is a vision of prudence, honest conversations, and optimism.

When we get pulled into these discussions because of

the continual discussion about more spending, we cannot focus on the important part of getting people back to work and growing our economy. Government doesn't create jobs. Governors don't create jobs. Americans create jobs. I believe in the American people, and that hope is still a part of our vocabulary.

I believe that we're also changing the discussion here in Washington. Career politicians have had their day in Washington, and it's time to talk about cuts. And since we've talked about cuts, the sky has not fallen. Optimism is a part of what the American fabric is built upon. I believe that this Joint Deficit Committee needs to find common ground for actual cuts and that the Senate will pick up the job growth bill that we passed right here on the floor of the House of Representatives this Congress.

We all knew that this debt ceiling debate was never going to be our final battle in a struggle for balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility. It gives us the chance to continue to talk about it. And if we want to continue to raise the debt, if we want to continue to increase spending, we'll continue to talk about why we need to restrain Washington politicians.

I'm going to continue the dialogue. I believe it's crucial. It's an important part of saving this country's economic future for my kids, for our children and for our grandchildren across this country.

Government has, for too long, continued this business as usual and the status quo vision that I talked about earlier. Americans are going to have to pay back all of this debt. This may not be a tax increase, but inevitably and indirectly it is.

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Mr. STUTZMAN. So, Madam Speaker, I come to the floor in support of this resolution because I believe that we need to all agree, Republicans and Democrats, that we're going to limit spending, we're going to stop borrowing.

We can pay our bills back. But at the same time we're going to focus on job creation, getting people back to work, as the gentleman from Louisiana mentioned, the energy jobs that were talked about. That was one of the things the President didn't discuss in his address the other night is he didn't talk about energy.

We are the leaders in the world on production. I come from a district of a lot of manufacturing; and I believe that if we would focus on energy, cut spending, we need to reform government. That's what's going to get people back to work. The economy's going to grow. We will still be number one in the world.

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