We must protect the earned benefits in Social Security and Medicare, and ensure programs like Medicaid stay strong--not cut them in order to maintain tax breaks for the richest Americans.

Deficits were not an accident or unexpected like an earthquake or a tornado.

To address the nearly 13 million Americans who are still out of work, I have introduced the emergency jobs to restore the American Dream Act.

We should stop paying companies for leaving the United States of America with tax advantages and give those same tax breaks to companies that make in America.

The push for across-the-board cuts is misguided.

Our nation faces many difficult decisions in the coming years, and Congress faces great pressure to spend beyond its means.

I re-introduced legislation, H.J.Res. 2, to deliver to Congress the necessary pressure to rein in spending.

Unless each Congress--regardless of party affiliation--is forced to make the decisions necessary to create a balanced budget, the temptation will always be there for Congress to spend more than it receives in revenues.

Americans must exercise restraint with their own funds, then government officials must be required to exercise an even higher standard when spending other peoples' hard-earned income.

I do not believe that this budget lives up to that promise.

A reduction of $1.3 billion in shipbuilding means fewer ships, less maintenance on our current fleet.