On the recordJuly 28, 2011
I thank my colleague for yielding. Mr. Speaker, Congress' approval rating is now down around 10 percent, and given the debate on this politically induced default crisis, I have to ask myself: Who are these crazy 10 percent? The American people are looking at this institution right now, and they're asking: What on Earth are you thinking? They're sick of these games and they're sick of us. They want this default crisis resolved now, and they definitely don't want to repeat it 6 months from now. They understand that a real solution means a real compromise. Our constituents have made it clear that they want shared sacrifice where millionaires, billionaires and oil companies contribute their fair share. They want their Social Security and Medicare benefits to be protected. Yet this bill, the Republican default agenda, does none of that. In fact, this reckless bill is actually a stealth attack on Medicare and Social Security because it requires large cuts next year that can only come from those programs. The Boehner plan would increase borrowing costs across the entire spectrum of American society, including local and State governments, businesses, and our citizens--producing, essentially, a backdoor tax hike on the American people. It does all this damage to seniors and middle class families while sparing the wealthy from even the slightest inconvenience.…
