Kendrick Meek: “This was actually the 29th. Mr. Speaker, on the 29th of December, I was back in Miami with my family. We were finished…”

“This was actually the 29th. Mr. Speaker, on the 29th of December, I was back in Miami with my family. We were finished polishing off what was left over from Christmas dinner, what have you, looking forward to New Year's. You all were doing the family thing. But that letter was written saying we need to raise the debt ceiling, when no one was paying attention. Now it comes down to, ``On December 29, I wrote the Congress regarding the need to increase the statutory debt limit. Because the debt limit has not risen, I must inform the Congress, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 8438(h)(2) that in my determination, by reason of the public debt limit, I will be unable to fully invest in the Government Security Investment Fund, called the G Fund, of the Federal Employees Retirement System in special interest-bearing Treasury securities beginning on February 16.'' Mr. Ryan and Mr. Delahunt, this letter was written on February 16. So that means that the Secretary, Mr. Snow, had to suspend. He waited until the last day. He didn't say in 2 weeks I am going to have to suspend payments to the G Fund, which is the retirement system for Federal employees. He waited until the day he could no longer wait any longer to write this letter. He is informing the Congress on that day. The statute governing the G Fund explicitly authorized the Secretary of Treasury to suspend the investment to the G Fund to avoid breaching the statutory debt limit. Now, let me just tell you, he goes on and on and on.…”