[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23479]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            FISCAL NEW YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE COFFMAN

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 1, 2009

  Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Madam Speaker, Happy New Year.
  Today is October first, the start of the 2010 Fiscal Year. That means 
it is also Fiscal New Year.
  My short time here in Washington has convinced me that many inside 
the Beltway are out of touch with the real day-to-day lives of those in 
the rest of the country.
  So we should do what many Americans do, and use the New Year as an 
opportunity to reassess how we are doing, and to make resolutions to 
improve our behavior.
  Today, I offer some Fiscal New Year Resolutions for Congress:
  Number One: Balance the budget.
  CBO estimates that the 2009 deficit will be 1.6 trillion dollars, and 
the cumulative deficit over the next ten years will equal 9.1 trillion 
dollars.
  Number Two: Lower our debt.
  Even if we stop deficit spending, we already carry 11 trillion in 
debt. We should be addressing this burden, not increasing it.
  Number Three: Act responsibly.
  We need to make sure Congress can and does read the bills they pass. 
We need time to study and evaluate them before a vote.
  Number Four: Study economics.
  Congress obviously needs some lessons in how markets work. We need to 
recognize that Government control in what should be the private sector 
destroys efficiencies. We need to reward success, not bail-out failure. 
And we need to understand that government competition destroys markets.
  Madam Speaker, I hope Congress can so resolve.

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