Austin Scott: “Thank you so much, Mr. Ross. It is always a pleasure to come and be a party to our efforts here on behalf of the Blue…”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Ross. It is always a pleasure to come and be a party to our efforts here on behalf of the Blue Dog Coalition as we work very hard to try to bring some reason and sanity to this whole issue of our budget, our obligations, our responsibilities to the people of this country, and our allies and partners around the world. I have just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan on an extraordinary trip. And I went firsthand so that I could see exactly what it was like on the ground, where I could talk to our soldiers, where I could be there with them, where I could also talk to the generals and see what was going on. As I got there, it was very interesting for me to have one extraordinary experience. We went into Camp Victory, and I ate dinner with our soldiers. And this solder grabbed me and hugged me so tight. It is a moment I will never forget as long as I live. As he was hugging me, we both were in tears and he said to me, Congressman Scott, when I am hugging you, it is like hugging a piece of home. I can tell you I will never forget that. Mr. Ross, do you know what crosses my mind as we look at that situation with the debt? It is that that soldier that hugged me, those soldiers that are going out and giving their lives every day on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, their salaries are being paid for by borrowed money from Communist China, from Japan, from foreign countries.…”