Chris Stewart: “I would like to thank the gentlewoman, Representative Hartzler, for sharing the floor with myself and other colleagues…”

“I would like to thank the gentlewoman, Representative Hartzler, for sharing the floor with myself and other colleagues tonight. It is an honor, especially on a topic that all of us know and recognize that is so very, very important. Dean Acheson once said that ``Negotiation in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties are more anxious to agree than to disagree.'' For the past 2 weeks, President Obama and Senator Harry Reid have made it very, very clear that they are much more anxious to disagree than they are to agree with Republicans--a situation that has very honestly prevented sincere negotiations. It is impossible to work out a deal when one party just sits on the sidelines and won't talk, like we have experienced over the last few weeks with the President. Now, we heard rumors this afternoon that the President has finally begun to negotiate with Republicans. I hope that that is true because our Founding Fathers established a system that was intended to be deliberative. Whether you agree or disagree with the President, this much we know: he has been willing to push our Nation toward an economic crisis all for the sake of a political agenda. When this happens, every American loses. It doesn't have to be this way. It shouldn't be this way. For 14 years, I was an Air Force pilot--which was, by the way, the coolest job in the world. I loved doing that. At one point, I was selected to be a member of the START verification team--Strategic Arms Reduction Team.…”