Karen Thurman: “Mr. Speaker, America's families decide what they can spend based on their yearly income and not 10 years out. Should we…”

“Mr. Speaker, America's families decide what they can spend based on their yearly income and not 10 years out. Should we in the people's House act differently? No. Congress has no idea how it will meet our national priorities, Medicare, prescription drugs, education, tax cuts and more, because we do not have our national family's budget planned. But the House is willing to jeopardize all of these priorities if the projections are wrong. If a family's projections are wrong, they must dig into their savings or take out loans. If our projections are wrong, then Congress will have to take out loans or use our savings, Social Security and Medicare. Quite frankly, I do not know about my colleagues, but I do not want to go back to the time when interest rates were 18 percent, when working families could not afford to buy homes, when unemployment was high and underemployment kept workers at low wages. I think it is time for prudence to guide us. I think we should first look at the country and give us a real honest and responsible budget with tax cuts, just like we did in 1997. I do not think that is too much to ask for.”