Kevin Brady: “Mr. Speaker, let me first, on behalf of this side of the aisle, join with the Minority Leader in praising the service of…”

“Mr. Speaker, let me first, on behalf of this side of the aisle, join with the Minority Leader in praising the service of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm). His grandson ought to be proud of his granddad, his service here, both for our country here in Congress and in Texas where, as a fellow Texan, I can tell my colleagues I am very proud of his service and proud to have served with him. There is something else we share as well. We share a debt in this Nation and we share a responsibility to pay those bills. The debt we face tonight is shared. Eighty-eight percent of this debt occurs from intergovernmental transfers of before the Bush administration. This is debt generated over decades and decades that every Member in this House today had a hand in creating. The solution in the end, after all of the rhetoric is said and done, is going to be to join together for spending restraint, for abolishing obsolete agencies, to eliminating the billions of dollars of duplication, to getting a backbone to say no to projects. And, in fact, we have the opportunity starting in January, maybe tonight, to have a fresh start about working together, Republicans and Democrats, to again balance this budget and to start paying down that debt. But, in truth, the question tonight is much simpler than that. The question is, are we going to pay our bills?”