Mike Gallagher: “I stood before you in this very spot not long ago urging this Congress to do the work of the American people that the…”

“I stood before you in this very spot not long ago urging this Congress to do the work of the American people that the American people sent us here to do. Yet, 2 months later, not much has changed. Distrust in government is still at an all-time high, and it is not hard to see why. Our Federal debt continues to approach $20 trillion. Our Tax Code remains broken and burdensome. Threats continue to rise abroad. And here at home, by the way, our veterans are still not getting the care they deserve despite the progress that we have made this week on that issue. From my perspective, this is unacceptable. Despite the fact that Congress, by any metric we devise, is not doing the basic job the American people sent us here to do, in 7 weeks, we are going to adjourn on a month-long vacation without reforming the Tax Code or getting our appropriations done. And just 30 days after returning from the August recess, if we don't make some hard choices, the government may shut down, cutting our constituents from access to the programs they depend on for their livelihoods. My message is simple: let's work through the August recess because in what other job would you grant yourself a month off if you hadn't gotten your work done? I know we need to get back home to meet with our constituents, but more than anything else, I believe our constituents sent us here to do our job, to work together to fix problems, rather than punt them to the next generation.…”