Peter Roskam: “I found the gentleman from New Jersey's logic dizzying. It took 43 American Presidents, from George Washington to George…”

“I found the gentleman from New Jersey's logic dizzying. It took 43 American Presidents, from George Washington to George W. Bush, for us to accumulate $5 trillion in debt. This Congress and this administration unambiguously are tripling that number in a decade. I also found it sobering and kind of surprising that the gentleman from Colorado a couple of minutes ago--and I wrote it down immediately-- said, Once we're back on our feet, then we can talk about it, or words to that effect. Once we're back on our feet, then we can talk about cutting spending? It is this bloated budget that is the restraining influence on prosperity in this country. It is the hidebound orthodoxy on the other side that says we can borrow and spend our way into prosperity--and that is an economic fool's errand. It is the sinkhole of self-absorption of this Congress and this generation that says we want to spend, spend, spend, and pass the bill on to another generation. We need to defeat this previous question so we can get serious about these cuts.”