Cecilia Rouse: “We must take action to shepherd our Nation's economy back onto solid footing.”

If we do not, we run the risk of actually finding ourselves in a downward spiral, because the capacity to deal with our debt is not only the amount that we spend but the size of our economy.

It is also an opportunity to rebuild the economy better than it was before.

I believe we have to be doing smart investments as we come out of this that have economic returns such as those on investments in infrastructure, R&D, education.

He would like to be able to pass and accomplish these goals in a bipartisan fashion. But what is most important for him is that we actually make these investments in our economy.