Robert Berry: “Mr. Speaker, it is a sad day when we have to come back to this floor when only a little over a year ago we still had…”

“Mr. Speaker, it is a sad day when we have to come back to this floor when only a little over a year ago we still had surpluses. We had been presented with an opportunity in this country to clear up the debt. We knew that if we were prudent, if we operated in a fiscally responsible manner, if we followed or had followed the Blue Dog plan, which said, first, take care of Social Security and Medicare and pay off the debt that we owe, and let us do that, and then let us take a little bit of the money, all of this wonderful money that had been projected, let us take a little bit of that money and do the things we know we should do for our military, do the things that we know we should do for our senior citizens, make the necessary investment to be sure that this country continues to be successful economically, make the necessary investments to be sure we are secure, and then let us provide some tax cuts, let us take part of it and provide some tax cuts, we had a list of priorities there. We now have a disastrous situation facing us.”