On the recordJuly 25, 2011
some of those dedicated police officers stood guard Saturday and Sunday as we worked to reach an agreement to avert a default on our national debt. Leaders in both parties were here throughout the weekend. Differences still separate our two sides, but work toward an agreement continues. This afternoon I will put on the floor a proposal that I hope will break that impasse. This legislation would put to rest the specter of default. It would cut $2.7 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. It would not raise any new revenue or make any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. All the cuts included in this package have previously been supported by Republicans. The proposal provides everything the House Republicans have said they needed from an agreement to avert default and cut the deficit. I hope my colleagues on the other side will still know a good deal when they see it. I hope they will remember how to say yes. The tea-party-led House of Representatives has held up a resolution of these negotiations for weeks because they did not want oil companies, corporations that ship jobs overseas, and millionaires and billionaires in their corporate jets to pay their fair share. If they now oppose an agreement that meets every one of their demands, it will be because they have put politics first and the good of this Nation and the economy last.…





