John Mica: “And my colleagues, why are we here? We are here because of a failure of leadership. The fact is the President of the…”

“And my colleagues, why are we here? We are here because of a failure of leadership. The fact is the President of the United States has failed to negotiate. The fact is the Majority Leader of the Senate, the head of the Senate, has failed and refuses to negotiate. It's interesting how time changes one's perspective. Let me quote Barack Obama before he became President. These are the words of Barack Obama. He said: Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means ``the buck stops here.'' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. Barack Obama said it very well before he became President. Now he needs to serve and act as President and provide the leadership. The fact is October 1 is the beginning of the financial year, and we should responsibly fund the government. The fact is, in just a few more days, we will reach $17 trillion in indebtedness--nearly half of that incurred since Barack Obama has become President. Think about that. They're going to come and ask for another $1.9 trillion to keep us going for 1 more year. That means in 6 years we will double the debt that's racking up the greatest debt in the history of mankind for any government.…”