[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 249]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         THE COOPER-WOLF SAFE COMMISSION: A BIPARTISAN SOLUTION

  (Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I have never been more concerned about the 
short-term and the long-term budget shortfalls we face as a Nation.
  Yesterday, President-elect Obama said we have trillion-dollar 
deficits for years to come even with the economic recovery we're 
working on. Whatever stimulus package, rumored to top $700 billion, is 
brought to the House floor for a vote, Congress has an historic 
opportunity to work in a bipartisan way.
  There is a plan already on the table that has garnered the support of 
over 100 Members of the House. It is the bipartisan plan that 
Congressman Cooper and I have that puts every spending program on the 
table and that sets up a bipartisan commission of eight Republicans and 
eight Democrats.
  If this Congress does not pass this, then no Member ought to be able 
to go home and give the traditional Rotary speeches about how concerned 
they are for your children and for your grandchildren of the country. 
The real issue is, with trillion-dollar deficits, if we don't deal with 
the entitlement issues, we will fail.

                          ____________________