Chris Van Hollen: “I thank my colleague. Mr. Speaker, as those of us on this side of the aisle have said, we need to focus our efforts on…”

“I thank my colleague. Mr. Speaker, as those of us on this side of the aisle have said, we need to focus our efforts on job creation and getting the economy going. I know that the chairman said that is what this bill is all about, but let's look at what the Bipartisan Commission on Deficit and Debt Reduction said. They said two things: one, absolutely we need to put our country on a sustainable path toward deficit reduction, and we should work together to get that done. But they also said another thing. They said draconian cuts right now would, in fact, reverse the economic progress that we are making, and that it would threaten the fragile economic recovery and it would hurt job creation in this country, which is one reason we would like to know what the number is, and I would yield immediately if you can tell me whether it is going to be $100 billion this year, $80 billion, $60 billion, whatever it will be, because there is no number.”