[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 12, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H4857-H4858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                LET'S GET SERIOUS ABOUT THE DEBT CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Landry) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LANDRY. Madam Speaker, let me help this body interpret how the 
American people see this debt crisis. Now some of you may question how 
I can, with this accent, provide an interpretation. Well, let me show 
you.
  Americans have a keen understanding of how credit cards work. They 
know that each card holds a limit on it, and this limit is the 
borrowing limit on that particular card. And it is a fact that when one 
reaches the limit on his or her card, that they are unable to borrow 
more money or charge more at that time.
  Now it is not factual to say, however, that when one maxes out his 
credit card, that he is in default personally, or in layman's terms, 
that he is bankrupt. No. When one reaches his limit, you simply cannot 
use the card anymore. If you want to continue to use the card, you need 
to pay down on the principal amount that is owed.
  If and when you reach this unfortunate circumstance, you and your 
family are required to live within your means. As long as you can 
continue to pay the interest on the card and the bills that you have 
accrued, then you are not in jeopardy of defaulting. Of course you can 
only do this if you're employed and you have income, unlike the 
approximately 9.2 percent of Americans out there who are looking for us 
to do everything we can to help create private sector jobs.
  So this is where we are. Look, I don't believe if we fail to raise 
the debt ceiling that we will default. What I do believe is not raising 
the debt ceiling will finally require Congress to make the tough 
decisions necessary to restore fiscal sanity to our Federal Government. 
It will force Congress to understand that at this time we need to live 
within our means. Why? Because going back to our layman's term, if the 
Federal Government was a person, that person is not unemployed, they 
still have a job, unlike the approximately 9.2 percent of Americans I 
spoke earlier about. So if we still have a job, that means we're still 
getting a paycheck. That paycheck is currently sufficient to pay our 
bills.
  After 2 years, where the President and previous Congresses spent like 
they were going out of style, the President is starting to understand 
that we have spent too much. What he hasn't realized yet--and I hope he 
does--is that we don't have a revenue problem here; we have a spending 
problem.
  Now, I know that we would like to spend more on things we like. That 
is human nature. But the reason so many of us are opposed to increasing 
taxes is

[[Page H4858]]

that our constituents are opposed to increasing taxes. Make no mistake 
about it: If the American people believe that an increase in taxes 
would once and for all eliminate our debt problems here in this 
country, they would support it.
  But, you see, this institution has a credibility problem--in fact, 
the entire Federal Government has a credibility problem with the 
American people. The American people do not have confidence in our 
ability to be prudent with their tax dollars. Do you blame them? When 
over the course of the last 2 years we have spent over $3 trillion on 
money, on stimuluses and bailouts, promising that we would increase 
their opportunity to be more financially secure, and of course that 
didn't happen. The proof is in the pudding. We spent the money, and 
guess what? No results.
  We have a spending problem. Why? Because so many politicians here who 
have been here for a long time believe that everything in the budget is 
a need, not a want. As a parent of a young child, I'm constantly having 
to explain to him the difference between needs and wants. So the 
longtime politicians here believe that government is the solution to 
everything. Well, my friends, believe you me, some of us know it's not, 
and the vast majority of people know it's not. Trust me. Trust me.
  We must get serious. Washington is not an elastic piggybank that is 
able to continue to fund everyone's wants. Let's get serious. Let's 
quit spending what we don't have. Let's restore credibility. And we do 
this by cutting spending through prioritizing. It is that simple. 
Restore credibility, restore trust. Get down to creating certainty, 
reducing redtape and creating jobs.

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