America pays its bills. Extending the debt limit is not about incurring new obligations; it is about honoring past obligations.

Social Security, as you can see from this chart, has never contributed one dime to the national debt or any of our deficits.

I am proud of the history and success of this program, and there are many more similar organizations doing the same thing with little if any headlines in our nation.

The proposal that we are dealing with in Congress right now has two problems with it. Number one, it will fail.

The Pell Grant, which has only been increased in funding in the last year after not being increased for more than five years, enables hundreds of thousands of low-income students to realize the more elusive dream of attending college.

If you support the repeal of health reform--you are contributing to the destabilization of Medicare.

Further, because of the current economic conditions, more Americans are in need of legal assistance.

Reducing benefits would not reduce the deficit but would greatly harm our seniors in my district more than any in Massachusetts.

I understand that small business is the backbone of our economy.

We cannot and we must not balance the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable; we must instead build up the budget and reduce the deficit through the success of the working class.

With rising costs for gas, food, and rent--proposing drastic cuts to education, housing, and healthcare will place additional burdens on the most vulnerable among us--jeopardizing the lives of millions of Americans.

We must preserve our funding for international relief programs, specifically, programs supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development.