Maurice Hinchey: “I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, I think it's very important for us to understand and remember…”

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, I think it's very important for us to understand and remember how the economy here grew and how it became much more positive and progressive during those 8 years of the Clinton administration. The deficit that Clinton inherited when he came into office was dramatically reduced and brought back a surplus. When he left office, the national debt was in the neighborhood of a little over $5 trillion. By the time the next President left, George W. Bush, the deficit was about $10.7 trillion. So it's important for us not to have the same kind of experience now that the opposition here on the other side of the aisle is trying to push on us. The most critical challenge that we face as a country, of course, is the need to create new jobs. If Congress hopes to get the economy moving at the right pace, we are going to have to take this challenge of job creation very seriously. The question is: What should we do? What should we not do to reform government so that we can better compete in the world economy and yield strong, sustainable, long-term growth and prosperity? After 100 days, Republicans have failed to put forward a single plan to create jobs. Instead, they have laid out a budget plan that shows us exactly what not to do. {time} 2040 We must remember how we got into this budget mess in the first place.…”