My colleagues, our neighbors, our friends sent us here to be responsible and to come to the aid of our country at a time of crisis. Our country is at such a time now. Our people confront uncertainty and fear, and they're looking to us for…

And so we confront this moment of responsibility. I believe my side of the aisle will overwhelmingly say yes, not because they like this bill, but because they believe it is a compromise that can work because it takes so much of the…

I thank the gentleman for his information, and I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________

I demand a recorded vote. A recorded vote was ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, this 15- minute vote on passage of the bill will be followed by 5-minute votes on motions to suspend the rules and pass H.R…

Each of us, ladies and gentleman of this House, has a duty to end this impasse. Let's live up to that duty by voting down this partisan legislation. And then let's come together on a balanced, bipartisan solution to reduce our deficit and…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. There is no common ground here, nor was it sought. We find ourselves at an unprecedented place today. America stands on the brink of default. It stands there, my friends, because the leadership of this…

The American public was concerned mainly about two things in this last election: A, jobs--trying to get opportunities for themselves and their children and young people to earn a living. They were also concerned, correctly, about the debt…

Ladies and gentlemen of this House, I am pleased to rise with my colleague and dear friend Barbara Lee to focus on an issue that all too frequently is ignored. I rise to speak as we are engaged in an extraordinarily important discussion…

I thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Chairman, we are still feeling the effects of a crisis that largely came about because the referees who oversee the soundness of our financial system were not on the field. We took the referees…

I don't think that there is a Member here who doesn't believe that America is in poor fiscal health. But the question facing us is this: do we value fiscal responsibility enough to make hard choices, give up some of what we want, and come…

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…

I thank my friend, the ranking member of the Budget Committee, Mr. Van Hollen, for yielding. The American public are rightfully very distressed with the Congress of the United States. They're distressed that at a time of great challenge…