On the recordJune 7, 2012
I thank my friend for yielding. Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bernanke is on Capitol Hill today warning that if the Congress doesn't get the debt and deficit under control, we could be facing a fiscal collapse, a calamity. And he's right. And I think we all know that one of the ways to avoid a calamity is to move Americans from unemployment lines to payrolls. But this is another day when the House will not consider legislation that would cut taxes for small businesses that hire people. This is another day when the House will not consider legislation that would rehire police officers, firefighters, teachers. This is another day when the House will not consider legislation to rebuild our roads and our bridges and our electronic infrastructure. There is going to come a day when the House, I fear, will consider reductions in Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid to deal with the deficit problem. Now, we need to consider these kinds of issues because they're an important part of the deficit. But when we do, I think most Members would agree with the proposition--I think all Members would probably agree with the proposition--that we should live under the laws that we write. If the Congress is going to consider a change to Social Security, we should live with that change. If the Congress is going to consider a change to Medicare, we should live with that change. We say this to our constituents when we go back to our districts. Let's vote for it today.…
