On the recordJuly 27, 2010
Mr. Speaker, today, we are talking about what is in a family's heirlooms, their possessions. I know the Republican would like to draw this into a long debate about how we got into this mess, but I will remind the gentleman that, on day one in 2009 when the 111th Congress started, we were faced with unprecedented budget deficits that were handed over to us from the previous administration--$3.5 trillion to be exact--and an economy that was in free fall. We didn't know where it was going to land. We were faced with two undeclared, unfunded wars, unregulated greed on Wall Street, and a banking crisis that was affecting so many small businesses. So I will remind the gentleman that, while the policies that allowed us to get into this ditch are not at the heart of this debate, certainly, he is welcome to debate us, as we proceed further, on how we got into this economic mess and on what measures we are taking to get ourselves out of this.
