Roland Gutierrez: “when I came here in 1993, the Republican majority, then the Republican minority, spoke about a balanced budget amendment…”

“when I came here in 1993, the Republican majority, then the Republican minority, spoke about a balanced budget amendment and that we had to balance the budget not on the backs of future generations. We no longer hear about a balanced budget amendment. They came and they said if they would become the majority that we would have term limits so that Members of Congress could be people legislators and not stay here all of their lives. They no longer talk about term limits. But astonishingly that night, I could understand those changes. Philosophically and politically they changed their mind and said it was okay to run deficits, it was okay to bust the budget, that these were okay things to do; that it was okay to tell the people that they were only to come here for three terms, 6 years, and then return to their districts, and that was okay but they had a change of mind. But what happened that night was different because I never recall a single instance in which a member of the Republican majority said that I was offered a $100,000 bribe in order to break my promise to the people, to change my position on a public policy issue. And that is what the debate should be here about tonight, and until we get to the bottom of that matter, it is a shame and a blemish on this House.”