On the recordJanuary 18, 2012
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I want to thank my friend and colleague from the great State of South Carolina, Mr. Tim Scott, for his outstanding work on the Rules Committee. So here we are again, Mr. Speaker, less than 6 months removed from last summer's so-called debt crisis, on the verge of committing another act of generational embezzlement. We are on the verge of assigning another trillion dollars of debt to our progeny because we can't muster the courage to make hard decisions. We're on the verge of $16 trillion in debt, Mr. Speaker, because we can't bring ourselves to say ``no.'' We're on the verge of $16 trillion in debt, Mr. Speaker, because we refuse to have a serious conversation about the role of government juxtaposed with the role of the individual. And at times like this, when leadership and moral courage, as my friend from South Carolina, Mick Mulvaney, so eloquently put it, when moral courage and leadership are needed we get slogans more befitting of a student body president race than a campaign to be the leader of the free world. This administration says it wants a ``balanced approach'' but a ``balanced approach'' apparently doesn't include a balanced budget. This administration says it wants a grand bargain, a big, transformative deal, but the details of such a deal would fit nicely on the back side of a postage stamp. And my personal favorite, Mr.…





