[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2082-2083]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  THE COURAGE TO CONTROL GOVERNMENT SPENDING AND RETURN POWER TO THE 
                                 PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Hayworth) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, on January 24, I received a letter from 
Jeremy Vaitas, who lives in Middletown, New York.
  He wrote: ``As a 13-year-old boy in seventh grade, I am concerned 
about my future. Currently, the national debt is 14 trillion, 16 
billion, 110 million, 552 thousand, 952 dollars, and five cents. Myself 
and every other citizen will have to pay $45,241.77 to eliminate this 
debt. My parents struggle with money, and I'm afraid that I will 
struggle even more and not be able to own a home, buy a car, or provide 
for a family someday.
  ``I feel the only way to reduce the national debt is to reduce the 
amount of money the government is spending. There are many ways to do 
this, but I believe increasing taxes is not one of them. To reduce the 
national debt, I would like to see you vote against any further 
bailouts or any other wasteful spending programs that give money to 
people or businesses that make bad decisions. Furthermore, I think you 
should concentrate on fraud and misuse of government funds.''
  Here is a 13-year-old who has the common sense to recognize that our 
Federal Government has been committing intergenerational theft and to 
call for it to stop. Our national debt is increasing at a rate of more 
than $4 billion per day.
  We are hearing a lot about the people who would be deprived of some 
form of benefit through spending cuts, but Jeremy's voice reminds us 
that Americans everywhere, and especially those who are most vulnerable 
by virtue of their youth, are being deprived of opportunity by the 
government's profligacy. We can help them best by returning taxpayer 
dollars to American pockets to buy, build, invest, and hire.
  That is our most urgent task.
  Jeremy Vaitas is only 13, but he gets it.
  He needs us in Congress to be adults, to accept that we must say 
``no'' to what has been all too easy to do in the past--to spend 
taxpayer dollars to grow the Federal Government far beyond its 
constitutional bounds. We must say ``no'' in order to say ``yes'' to 
the opportunity and prosperity that come only with American enterprise, 
entrepreneurship, and ingenuity. We must say ``yes'' to the future that 
Jeremy and all of the members of his generation and of generations to 
come deserve as the heirs to the American Dream.
  Our Nation is exceptional in all of history and in all the world. It 
has always taken courage to defend it. The continuing resolution we 
will pass this week must show that we have the courage to take control 
of our government's spending and return power to the people.

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