[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5674-5675]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THE FEDERAL BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren) for 3 minutes.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, sitting here 
listening to comments on the other side can be quite instructive; 
although I might warn my colleagues on the other side that they ought 
to be careful about the metaphors they use. One of those on the other 
side got up to criticize Republicans for trying to stop funding of 
abortions, which means saving babies, and used the unfortunate 
expression of ``don't throw out the baby with the

[[Page 5675]]

bathwater.'' It shows how almost obtuse they are with respect to what 
we're actually talking about.
  The distinguished leader on the other side from Maryland quoted Henry 
Clay. I'd like to quote an outstanding American, his name is Steny 
Hoyer, who said just a couple of years ago here on this floor that if 
you can't budget, you can't govern. That's why we're in the problem 
that we're in today, because when they had control of both sides of 
Capitol Hill and the Presidency, they, for the first time since the 
Budget Act was passed, intentionally did not pass a budget because they 
were embarrassed about the numbers.
  And what did that lead to? That led to the fact that we didn't pass 
any of the 13 appropriations bills, which led to the fact that we have 
to deal with a CR. That's why we're in the mess we are today, because 
they did not budget. And now they have the effrontery to come out and 
criticize Paul Ryan, the Republican leader of the Budget Committee's 
suggestion that we be serious about budgeting around here and that we 
understand that we're driving our children into the ground and our 
grandchildren with debt that cannot be paid, and because we have the 
courage to bring forth a serious adult proposal on the budget, we are 
accused of trying to put children on the street and to not allow 
seniors to be able to eat.
  Come on. The American people are smarter than that. They want this 
House, this Senate, and this President to be adults. And to come here 
to this floor and to suggest that we're trying to kill Medicare--we're 
not trying to kill Medicare; we're trying to save Medicare. Every 
objective review has said it's going broke within 9 years.
  But maybe collective amnesia is the way to leadership. I hope not. I 
hope not, not for me, but for my children and my grandchildren. They 
deserve better. This country deserves better. We should be required to 
do better.

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