[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 171 (Monday, December 31, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H7474]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0930
                              FISCAL CLIFF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Dold) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I want to first start off by thanking my 
friend from Missouri for his service and working with him on 
legislation in the past.
  Just to pick up on what he said about our World War II heroes, we do 
need to put the country first. I think that certainly we're here on New 
Year's Eve and we're upon the fiscal cliff. What we do need to focus on 
is how do we find that common ground, because what we do know is I 
believe Democrats and Republicans alike want to put our country on a 
course to some fiscal discipline--we hope. Is there a course where we 
can find enough common ground to move it forward so that we don't have 
a downgrade, so that we don't spike unemployment, so that the markets 
don't go down.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm a small business owner. I employ 100 people. For me, 
it's 100 families. I meet a budget and a payroll. What they're looking 
for when I talk to people back home, they're looking for some 
stability, they're looking for certainty, and what we're doing here is 
not providing any of those things. And yet I do believe that there is a 
spirit of comity that we want to find that common ground and move 
forward.
  I'm sorry that we're here on New Year's Eve and that we haven't 
solved this problem long ago. I will say, Mr. Speaker, that the House 
did send a bill in August over to the United States Senate. Going back 
to my time as a small business owner, I can just tell you, if I'd given 
something to one of the people that I work with, marked it ``urgent'' 
and put it on their desk months ago and it sat for month after month 
after month, something would be wrong. Well, in essence, Mr. Speaker, 
that's exactly what we've done. We sent something over to the United 
States Senate months ago, marked it ``urgent'' because this is talking 
about the direction, the fiscal direction of our Nation, and yet 
nothing is coming back.
  Unfortunately, Washington works on brinksmanship. We don't want 
brinksmanship; we want stability. The world is watching, and we need to 
focus on the common ground to move things forward. We want to make sure 
that we can keep tax rates low. We want to make sure that we can bring 
additional revenue into the Federal Government. I believe that's going 
to be through growth. That's going to be sparking the American spirit, 
that entrepreneurial spirit across our country to bring more dollars 
into the Federal Treasury, to get more people back to work.
  The thing that's amazing, Mr. Speaker, is there's a lack of 
leadership, a lack of leadership here in Washington, D.C., that's 
palpable. We need to move forward.
  During the budget season, those on the other side of the aisle, 
myself, some of my colleagues on my side of the aisle, put forth a 
budget, the first bipartisan budget in a generation, based upon the 
Simpson-Bowles plan, talking about the need to bring additional revenue 
in, talking about the need to put spending cuts out there because 
Washington has this sense of spending, Mr. Speaker. Republicans have 
overspent; Democrats have overspent. I'm not here to point the finger. 
What I am looking for is a solution to the problems we face. My hope is 
that we can get those done today. The American people demand it, the 
American people need it, and the world is looking to America for 
leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, on a different note, I want to rise today to recognize 
an extraordinary lady, a great American, one who raised four children 
and instilled in them a love of family and country, taught those around 
her the idea that your integrity determines your identity. In fact, she 
gave me that plaque, and it hangs in my room today.
  I want to say it again, Mr. Speaker, because I think it is so very, 
very important: Your integrity determines your identity.
  She also instilled a fantastic work ethic in those around her. A 
teacher, first of special needs children, then in English as a high 
school English teacher for a number of years, she left the teaching 
profession to have a family and then became an entrepreneur. She went 
into the private sector, helped people get jobs, put food on the table 
for families, and helped those families get an education.
  Mr. Speaker, this great American lady celebrates a birthday today. 
I'm sorry that I'm not with her, but I am in spirit. Happy birthday, 
Mom.

                          ____________________