Peter Roskam: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. I was listening to the gentleman from New York, and I sincerely appreciate his warm…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I was listening to the gentleman from New York, and I sincerely appreciate his warm, heartfelt advice for the Republican Party. I am amazed at the characterization of being in opposition to a President's policies as somehow being in opposition to the country. I fundamentally reject that. I think that that is a gross characterization. I think, on behalf of everybody on the GOP side, that that is an absurd argument. I want to pick up on a thread and a subtext of what we heard from our friends on the other side of the aisle. It's a very interesting thing, and I'm not being sarcastic. It is a very hopeful thing, which is this, Mr. Speaker: Did you notice today that there is nobody who is defending the status quo of our current Tax Code? Nobody. We will not hear any voice from our friends on the other side defending the current Tax Code. We will hear no voice today on this side or on the other side among all of those Members--and I haven't listened to our friends on the other side of the dome, but I'm hunching that there is nobody--who is defending the status quo. So what does that mean for us today? That means there is an unbelievable opportunity. There is an opportunity that is born of recognition of a failed system.…”