[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 83 (Wednesday, May 17, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H2382]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       RECOGNIZING THE 288TH BIRTHDAY OF AMELIA COUNTY, VIRGINIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Good) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
288th birthday of Amelia County, Virginia.
  Located in the rolling hills of Virginia's southern Piedmont region, 
Amelia County was founded in 1735 and named in honor of Princess 
Amelia, the daughter of King George II.
  Amelia County has since contributed to the rich history of the United 
States, appropriate for it being located in the Commonwealth of 
Virginia, the most historic of all States.
  In fact, the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1843 to 
1845 for the 28th Congress, John Winston Jones, was born in Amelia 
County.
  During World War II, the county's Morefield Mine provided significant 
strategic minerals that were very important to the successful American 
war effort.
  Just a few days ago, on May 13, I was honored to be able to join 
Amelia County for its annual Amelia Day Festival to celebrate the 
historic founding of this great county, now 288 years old.
  Members from the Amelia County Public Schools band, Amelia Academy 
chorus, and the Amelia County High School chorus performed to 
commemorate this wonderful occasion.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent the great people of Amelia 
County, and I appreciate all that they contribute to Virginia's Fifth 
Congressional District and our great Commonwealth.


                   Shrink Washington and Grow America

  Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I commend our Speaker and this 
House, this very body, for negotiating and passing a responsible bill 
to raise the debt limit in exchange for spending cuts and reforms.
  While the White House and the Senate stood on the sidelines for 90 
days, this very body came together in initiating a debt limit increase. 
While many of our Members did not want to increase the debt limit, we 
negotiated that with responsible and reasonable spending cuts and 
reforms.
  Democrats in the White House and here in Congress would, if they had 
their way, raise the debt ceiling by some $4 trillion with no reforms 
or spending cuts, promising to do what Washington never does, cut 
spending in some future undefined date.
  Certainly, a default will occur if we continue on the current track 
when we can no longer borrow, we can no longer sell our debt, and we 
can no longer service our debt. Republicans here in the House are 
determined not to let this happen, and that is why we have done our 
job.
  What have we passed out of this House?
  Returning spending to pre-COVID levels for nondefense discretionary 
spending. We put 1 percent caps on future growth in spending. We have 
eliminated hundreds of billions of dollars in woke climate 
environmental extremism that is in the phony inflation increase act and 
the phony Inflation Reduction Act.
  We have eliminated the half-a-trillion-dollar student loan transfer 
scheme, eliminated the expansion of the IRS, and rescinded unspent 
COVID funds, which are tens of billions of dollars more. Most Americans 
understand that those are reasonable, and all of these should be 
rescinded and eliminated.
  We also have reinstated work requirements for able-bodied Americans 
of working age without dependents in return for Federal assistance. 
This is important not just to save tens of billions of dollars, but to 
grow our economy and get back to the Trump-growth of 3 to 4 percent a 
year, instead of the Biden growth of 1 percent a year.
  We have got the REINS Act, which will require a floor vote on every 
significant rule or regulation coming out of the regulatory bodies, the 
unaccounted bureaucrats who run our agencies and departments.
  We also have H.R. 1, our energy bill, which will return us to 
American energy independence, which is critical for our national 
security, as well as our economic security.
  Default will not happen June 1, or any time thereafter, unless it is 
willfully caused by the Secretary of the Treasury, who chooses not to 
prioritize payments toward the obligations on our debt, Social 
Security, Medicare, our veterans, and our defense.
  As a matter of fact, I authored a letter to Secretary Yellen, joined 
by many of my colleagues, asking: What is her plan to ensure we don't 
have a default and to prioritize payments?
  What will happen if we don't raise the debt ceiling? You would have 
the forced reduction of $100 billion on a monthly basis in 
discretionary spending.
  Democrats in the House, the Senate, and in the White House will not 
allow that to happen. We need to hold the line and have the Senate pass 
the Save, Limit, Grow Act, which was passed 3 weeks ago in this very 
body. They need to do their job and avoid whatever consequences there 
might be for reaching the debt limit.
  What we ought to do in this House body, rather than negotiate down 
and weaken the bill that we passed, we ought to be adding H.R. 2, our 
border security bill, as we see the hundreds of thousands of migrants 
on a monthly basis that are invading our country as a result of this 
President's border policies.
  I applaud my House colleagues for doing our job to protect the 
financial integrity of the United States, which is our number one 
responsibility as the House of Representatives, and passing this 
responsible spending bill that will avoid any consequence from not 
raising the debt limit and will put us on a path of future fiscal 
responsibility.

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