On the recordMay 4, 2011
I say to my colleague from Ohio, what a welcome idea of refocusing on the No. 1 issue in America today, which is too many Americans out of work. Of course, we saw the growth numbers for the first quarter of this year: 1.8 percent--hardly vigorous enough to create the kind of economic expansion and job creation we need. As we are dealing with the spending issue, we have to deal with growing the economy. That is exactly what the Senator from Ohio has proposed--a comprehensive plan to try to figure out how to get people back to work and to try to get the kind of economic growth that will help us deal with this debt crisis we are in. The one thing I especially like about the plan, although I like all of it, is the embracing of a notion of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. The Senator from Ohio has had a distinguished career not only in the House but as U.S. Trade Representative and also as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He knows the budget numbers and the intricacies of that better than just about anybody here. He knows the difficulty we have had, whether Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, of living within our means. Now that we are spending so much money we do not have--about 40 cents on every dollar, with $14.3 trillion in debt and huge deficits--we have to figure a way out of that situation.…
