[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 56 (Friday, April 15, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2011

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                               speech of

                             HON. JIM COSTA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2011

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my concern regarding the 
partisan direction our budget debate has taken this week. Although 
there is near unanimous agreement that we must reduce our deficit, 
there has been no productive discussion in this chamber as to how we 
can work together to accomplish that goal. We all have our own ideas 
about our nation's fiscal priorities, but what is missing in today's 
discussion is a bipartisan, centrist approach to addressing our 
nation's fiscal health, such as the recommendations in the report by 
the Simpson-Bowles National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and 
Reform.
  It is unfortunate that the House will not consider the Cooper 
amendment, mirroring the Simpson-Bowles suggestions, as an alternative 
to the extreme partisan proposals that have been put forth. Responsibly 
reducing our nation's deficit will require shared sacrifice and 
bipartisan consensus, and will not be accomplished if the two parties 
are unable to work together.
  In March, I joined with my colleagues in the Blue Dog Coalition to 
offer a comprehensive and aggressive set of benchmarks for fiscal 
reform that include the largest deficit cuts in history by 2014, 
entitlement and tax reform, and a reduction in the overall size of 
government. This proposal put everything on the table, cutting the 
deficit by $4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, returning to 
2008 spending levels by 2013, and addressing entitlement programs.
  No one party has all the answers, and no one party can do this alone. 
It's time to put our economy back on the path to fiscal sustainability, 
and this House should consider the Simpson-Bowles recommendations that 
aim to accomplish that goal.

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