Charles Rangel: “One would listen to this debate and believe that it's only Democrats who have an economic problem that we're facing.…”

“One would listen to this debate and believe that it's only Democrats who have an economic problem that we're facing. It's almost embarrassing to listen to the minority talk about the deficit and not even explain how we got into this deficit. I want to congratulate the chairman of our committee, as well as our leader. It's very, very difficult for this Congress and for this country to move forward the way that we should and to ease the pain of the fiscal crisis that was created by the previous administration when you're acting alone. It would just seem to me that Republicans have to learn to understand that people have lost their jobs, that people need health care, that people who really lost their homes are not Democrats and Republicans. They are Americans. I think that we should get fed up just with placing blame. I don't remember the last time I mentioned 'Ford' and 'Cheney,' because this is not going to help us in terms of where we're going.”