[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 25, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H3764]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CONGRESS NEEDS TO PASS A BUDGET

  (Mr. ROE of Tennessee asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, media reports indicate that House 
Democrats will not only not pass a budget, but they won't even try. 
It's no surprise that they're unwilling to put their blueprint on the 
House floor, because it would be the clearest sign yet that their 
reckless spending has put our country's solvency in doubt and 
endangered our future's generations. But I am only judging them by 
their own words.
  In 2006 then-House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said that passing a 
budget was the most basic function of government, and I agree. That 
same year, then-House Budget Committee Ranking Member John Spratt said, 
if you can't pass a budget, you can't govern. And Speaker Pelosi said 
in 2002 that failing to pass a budget hurts children.
  This means, by their own standard, the standard in which they judge 
Republicans, Democrats aren't able to govern. House Republicans have 
said for months that Democrats are unfit to govern based on current 
policies. Now their own judgements agree with us.
  Mr. Speaker, it's time for hope and change and a budget.

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