[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 5, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E9]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CREATING JOBS, NOT EXPLODING THE DEFICIT

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                            HON. RICK LARSEN

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 5, 2011

  Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, day one of the 112th Congress 
and House Republicans are already violating their campaign promises and 
the needs of the American people. The set of rules they introduced 
today will explode our debt and deficit, kill our economic recovery and 
make the House of Representatives less transparent.
  Like a lemming, the set of budget rules contained in this package 
will push us further off the deficit cliff. It breaks the promise so 
many of us made to reduce the deficit and control the debt by refusing 
to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans and forces future 
generations to foot the bill. Over the cliff like a lemming; but I 
suppose there is nothing like a little lemming to go with tea.
  Instead of transparency, this set of rules confers ``King for a Day'' 
status to one Member of the House of Representatives--allowing him to 
set the entire budget for the federal government without any public 
input.
  The last time this country allowed that was never. Only before we 
were a country did a king set our budget. And now Republicans are set 
to give this authority again to one person, the Chairman of the House 
Budget Committee, a person I admire as a Member of Congress--as a King, 
not so much.
  And, in the next few days, the new House majority wants to repeal 
help for seniors on prescription drugs and take away consumer 
protections from families battling insurance problems. This effort will 
add $143 billion to the deficit over the next ten years.
  This is all happening while we should be focusing on the economic 
recovery that is underway thanks to the tough decisions that the last 
Congress made. We need to redirect our focus to the economy and stop 
exploding the deficits and debt.

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