On the recordNovember 18, 2011
As a result of abandoning that PAYGO responsibility, you could cut revenues very deeply and not pay for them, not cut spending. It takes no courage, I suggest to my friends, to cut taxes--none whatsoever. Everybody is happy. Paying for bills is a lot tougher. It requires a lot more courage, a lot more responsibility. But you jettisoned statutory PAYGO in the 2000s, and you went on a spending binge. Not only did you blow a hole in the deficit, but you also blew a hole in the economy, and we saw the worst job creation of any administration since Herbert Hoover because the economy, rightfully, was not confident that we would manage our finances correctly. What we need, ladies and gentlemen, in this House is a balanced budget, not a balanced budget amendment. Let us summon the courage, the will, and the ability to work together immediately on this Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, but let us do it day after day after day. Then when the issues come before you, have the courage to either vote against spending or to vote for the revenues to pay for what all of us have wanted to buy. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will remind the Members that remarks in debate must be addressed to the Chair and not to others in the second person.
