On the recordJuly 28, 2011
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the American people are way ahead of the politicians. They have been telling us over and over again: We want a balanced approach to reducing our deficits. One in five Americans has said very clearly: We support the Republicans' slash-and-burn default plan that we see before us that only cuts services to Americans to try to help us balance our budget. But nearly three times as many Americans have been saying over and over again: We want to see a balanced approach between those cuts to very important services, a little bit of pain, but also tax increases on all those folks who have been taking advantage of those tax loopholes and making a ton of money. The American people don't think it's a good idea to cut Medicare and Social Security and to cut Medicaid to protect tax loopholes for special interests. They've been saying that over and over. But here's the biggest clue that our Republican colleagues aren't listening to: The American people have said over and over that the biggest deficit our country faces today is a jobs deficit. After 204 days as the majority, Republicans have only given us slash-and-burn politics that have created not one single job for hardworking middle class families. In fact, instead of creating jobs, their major pieces of legislation could potentially cost 2 million more Americans to lose their jobs.…
