On the recordJuly 19, 2011
I voted because I believed we needed to get to fiscal responsibility, and in fact we did, and we balanced the budget 4 years in a row, and George Bush inherited a $5.6 trillion projected surplus. Not debt. Not deficit. And 22 million jobs having been created before he took office. Eight years later, we had increased the debt by $5 trillion. I'm not going to vote for the balanced budget amendment, and I urge my colleagues to reject this bill, which has no chance of passage, and we need to stop fiddling. We need to do our work and make sure America can pay its debts, because if it can't, every one of our constituents will lose and our country will lose. Our oath of office was to preserve and protect. Defeat this ill- advised, ill-timed, unconsidered piece of legislation and let us move to fiscal responsibility in a way that will bring us all together in a bipartisan way, as Bowles-Simpson tried to do, as Biden tried to do, and as, frankly, Mr. Boehner and the President tried to do. Let's get to that objective. The country deserves it. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their remarks to the Chair and not to others in the second person.
