[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 16, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H941]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   URGENT NEED TO CUT GOVERNMENT SPENDING AND REDUCE GOVERNMENT DEBT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Hurt) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HURT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the urgent need to 
cut government spending and reduce government debt.
  Last year, our President and our Congress failed to enact a budget. 
This fundamental failure of leadership has put our country on a path of 
skyrocketing debt, growing deficits, and unacceptably high 
unemployment.
  This week, the President submitted to this new Congress a new budget 
proposal. Instead of recognizing the urgent need to reduce spending and 
reduce our debt, the President's budget proposal amounts to, yet again, 
failure of leadership. It is a budget predicated on unsustainable 
deficit spending and insurmountable debt that will be passed on to our 
children and to our grandchildren.
  Our deficit is projected to reach an all-time high of $1.6 trillion, 
and our national debt is projected to equal the size of the entire U.S. 
economy, reaching over $15 trillion by September 30 of this year. And 
for 21 straight months, our national unemployment rate has been at 9 
percent or higher, the country's longest jobless streak since the Great 
Depression.
  The people of my district, Virginia's Fifth District, and the people 
of our Nation know this course is unsustainable and that it must stop. 
Enough is enough. It is time to chart a new course of fiscal discipline 
and restraint. It is time to act on the urgent message sent by the 
people in November that we must put an end to Washington's reckless 
spending.
  No longer should the people of the Fifth District be stuck to foot 
the bill for a growing and intrusive Federal Government. No longer 
should families and businesses in central and southside Virginia be the 
ones making the tough choices to live within their means while the 
Federal Government borrows 40 cents on every dollar it spends.
  By making tough choices and by reducing government spending, we are 
taking the first step in tackling our unsustainable debt and of 
preserving our economic strength for future generations. By reducing 
spending, we are restoring a sense of certainty and confidence to the 
marketplace that will create a better environment for job creation. By 
reducing spending, we are reducing the size and scope of the Federal 
Government and are empowering our true job creators to hire, innovate, 
and expand.
  The decisions we face are not easy, but we have not been given an 
easy task. Now is the time to act and to act boldly if we are serious 
about leaving a better America for our children and our grandchildren.

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