Charles W. Stenholm: “finally, after 16 hours of debate, we get an opportunity for a clean up-and-down vote on whether we should increase our…”

“finally, after 16 hours of debate, we get an opportunity for a clean up-and-down vote on whether we should increase our national debt ceiling by $750 billion. This motion to recommit reaffirms our support for the President and our men and women in uniform and the war on terrorism. Every one of us supports providing whatever funding is necessary to fund the war on terrorism. This motion is about the financial condition of our Nation and whether we will continue piling on more and more debt on our children and grandchildren. We should not be delaying action on funding the war on terrorism by trying to use it to hide the second largest increase in the statutory debt limit in the history of our country. The war on terrorism should be too important for political games. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle were very willing to stand up and take credit for the tax and spending legislation they passed last year that has put us back into debt. They should be willing to stand up and be counted now that the time has come to pay the bills by raising the national debt limit. We are not threatening to default on the good faith and credit of the U.S. Government. We have repeatedly extended the hand of bipartisan cooperation by offering to support a temporary increase in the debt limit to meet the expenses of the war and allow government to meet its obligations while Congress and the President work together on a plan to again balance our budget.”