[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 9, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H2075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   ADDRESSING ENTITLEMENT SPENDING WILL REQUIRE BIPARTISAN LEADERSHIP

  (Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, in his first speech in the British Parliament 
in 1789 describing the slave trade, William Wilberforce concluded by 
telling his colleagues this: ``Having heard all of this you may choose 
to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know.''
  None of us can say that we do not know about the Nation's long-term 
financial outlook, which former Comptroller General David Walker said 
will result in a tsunami of spending debt level that will swamp our 
ship of state. It is time that this Congress and this administration 
and Secretary Paulson wake up to the massive debt that we are amassing.
  Congressman Jim Cooper and I are working together on a bipartisan 
plan called the SAFE Commission, where 78 colleagues are with us. If 
there are other bipartisan solutions that you all have, put them on the 
table and let's get them discussed. It will take the leadership on a 
Wilberforce level from both sides of the aisle.
  We know what is happening, and for the sake of our children and our 
grandchildren, we must not look the other way. Wilberforce said, and I 
close, having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way, 
but you can never again say you did not know.

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