[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 89 (Thursday, May 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H2623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          DEBT CEILING CRISIS

  (Mr. MFUME asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MFUME. Madam Speaker, I say to the ladies and gentlemen all over 
the country: Welcome to the United States Congress.
  Only today, while we are facing a debt crisis, all of the Republicans 
have left to go out of town. They have gotten into their cars and their 
limos, and they are catching planes to go home while we are teetering 
on the brink of disaster.
  What kind of leadership is that, Kevin McCarthy?
  We have heard the list. We know what the cuts are going to affect. 
They are going to affect law enforcement, veterans' affairs, food 
assistance, education, 401(k) retirement plans, pension plans, and cuts 
to Social Security payments.
  How can you leave town and not be here to deal with this?
  All we need are five Republicans to sign this discharge petition, and 
it goes away. It is over with.
  Everybody else has left. So what you see here today are Members of 
the Democratic Party making an American argument that we have a 
responsibility to pay our debts.
  They are gone. ``Beam me up, Scotty.'' There is no intelligent life 
on that side of the aisle.

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