[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 32 (Tuesday, February 24, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H2606]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  COMMISSION WITH TEETH: FORCING CONGRESS TO ADDRESS ENTITLEMENT ISSUE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas). The Chair 
recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Sometimes it takes a crisis to move Congress to action, and 
we are in a financial crisis today and have reached the point where 
Americans everywhere understand that our country is in serious trouble. 
We are sinking, and it is on this Congress' watch, and it is this 
Congress' obligation to fix it. Main Street USA is suffering. 
Businesses are closing. Wages and hours are being cut back. Restaurants 
that once bustled with customers are half empty, and the only waiting 
line starts at the unemployment office.
  How did we get to these frightening times?
  Look at the numbers. For years we've been spending and spending 
beyond our means, mortgaging the future for our children and 
grandchildren--over $56 trillion in unfunded obligations through Social 
Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The national debt is $11 trillion. 
Standard & Poor's investment service predicts the loss of our triple-A 
bond rating as early as 2012. Imagine the headlines when that day 
comes.
  China now holds the paper of 1 of every 10 American dollars, and we 
saw for the first time the Secretary of State punting when she was in 
Beijing, never raising the issue of human rights and religious freedom. 
Imagine how the Catholic bishops and Buddhist monks who are in prison 
felt when they heard that the Secretary, because of pandering to the 
Chinese in wanting them to buy our paper, never raised this issue. Yet 
this Congress has done nothing but spend, spend, spend and talk, talk, 
talk.
  Congress is made up of parents and grandparents. Yet it seems that 
this Congress is prepared to push all of this onto our children and our 
grandchildren. Why won't Congress act? Why has Congress failed to act? 
What is Congress afraid of?
  Over the weekend, President Obama said, `` . . . we can't generate 
sustained growth without getting our deficits under control.'' I could 
not agree more, and time will tell if this administration and this 
Congress will embrace the process that leads to a solution.
  The process that will lead to a solution is the bipartisan commission 
that Congressman Jim Cooper and I have proposed with every spending 
program on the table with tax policy. Congress would vote up or down on 
the commission's recommendations.
  If any Member from either side, from my side who is not on this bill 
or from the Democratic side who is not on this bill, has a better idea 
that will work--a better idea rather than just a rotary speech, a 
better idea that works--put it forward. Don't hide behind the process.
  There always seems to be an excuse. The American people are 
experiencing a crisis of confidence and expect this Congress to act. 
When we gain control of the reckless spending, we will be able to 
rebuild our economy. We will have a renaissance in America, and we will 
see a brighter and a stronger America--stronger for us, stronger for 
our children and stronger for our grandchildren. As Ronald Reagan said, 
we will literally have a renaissance when we get control of this 
spending,
  But I ask you, and every Member who serves here has to ask 
themselves: How will history judge the 111th Congress if it does not 
deal with this issue?
  Your children and your grandchildren will come up and say, you know, 
``Grandpop or Grandmom or Dad or Mom, weren't you there during the 
111th Congress when we had $11 trillion of debt? When the Chinese had 
such influence on this country that this Secretary no longer spoke out 
on human rights and religious freedom when there were 30-some Catholic 
bishops in jail? When we saw all of this going on with unemployment? 
What did you do when you were there? Were you there?''
  Yes, I think you were. What would you do?
  This Congress will be a total failure, and it will be our children 
and our grandchildren who will pay the price, and history will judge it 
very, very poorly.

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