[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12956]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           FISCAL DISCIPLINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Fudge). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Kirkpatrick) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. KIRKPATRICK of Arizona. Madam Speaker, on Sunday, two leading 
voices from both sides of the aisle outlined as clearly as ever the 
consequences of Washington's unrestrained spending. The cochairs of the 
nonpartisan Debt and Deficit Commission, former Republican Senator Alan 
Simpson and former Clinton administration Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles 
said that if the government stays on its current path, our crushing 
Federal debt will ``destroy the country from within.'' Bowles went on 
to describe it as a ``cancer'' on our Nation.
  These are just the latest warnings of the disaster we face if 
Congress does not begin making the tough choices to restore fiscal 
discipline. Washington politicians have heard it from policy experts, 
from public servants, and, above all, from the people. When will they 
start to listen? How much plainer can we make the stakes? What more 
will it take to get the message through?
  I was proud to fight for the strongest possible debt commission, and 
I will push Congress for an up-or-down vote on each of their 
recommendations. But the cochairs have already laid out what needs to 
be done to get our fiscal house in order, and this House must not waste 
any opportunity to take action.
  As Members put together the appropriation bills for the next fiscal 
year, they should work creatively and aggressively to cut spending 
levels and do more with less. As I have proposed, they should start by 
reducing congressional pay by 5 percent. Congress needs to lead by 
example. Before they ask the rest of the Federal Government to make 
cuts, they must go on to find big and small ways to save billions of 
taxpayer dollars.
  Paying down the debt and balancing the budget will not be easy. There 
will be politically unpopular decisions to be made. But as Senator 
Simpson and Mr. Bowles reminded us, leaving the hard calls for another 
day is no longer an option.

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