On the recordJanuary 15, 2013
I thank the distinguished gentleman from Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for your time and help tonight as another distinguished Member of the freshman class. I hope we will have opportunities on other nights for you to be able to participate in these Special Orders. As several have alluded to, our idea is just to be a part of the public debate. Everyone in this room tonight, everybody watching, has grown up in an America where you've known one very simple fact: that no matter what your current station in life, no matter where you came from, if you worked hard and stayed focused in this great country, you would have an opportunity to build a life for yourself; you would have an opportunity to live the American Dream. And for the first time in my life, as I traveled through the Sixth District of Indiana and talked to people all across this country, people are doubting whether that will be true for the next generation, whether the next generation of young people and Americans will have the same kinds of opportunities that we all had growing up. I think it is not an exaggeration to say that the upcoming debate in the next 2 months is really about the question of what are we willing to do to save our country, and this underlying question: Does Washington have enough? How much more must they take from the hardworking, taxpaying Americans who are trying to put their life together every day? I and my colleagues who spoke earlier today believe Washington has enough.…
