[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10401]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SOLVE THE DEBT PROBLEM

  (Mr. LANKFORD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. Speaker, today I rise after spending the week of 
July 4th in the heartland of America, central Oklahoma, where I had the 
opportunity to hear the thoughts of the families in my district 
regarding our economy and the debt.
  No one approached me during the last week to tell me they wanted more 
government spending to create jobs. No one asked me to create more 
instability in our economy by raising taxes. In fact, no one told me 
they wanted to celebrate Independence Day by seeing more government 
dependence.
  But over and over again, people asked me to work on solving the 
problem of the debt, not just voting for another blank check debt 
ceiling. We need real spending limits to offset our serious budget 
shortfall. We can't pretend that we can borrow forever with no 
consequences.
  There is a limit to how much debt this Nation can carry and our 
worldwide markets can sustain. Our current real debt equals our GDP. 
And I would hope that many others in this House would see that as a 
problem as well.
  Second, we need to address our entitlements. These programs are 
critical safety nets for the neediest Americans, but they will be 
worthless for everyone if we allow them to go insolvent.
  And, finally, we need a balanced budget amendment to our 
Constitution, with real teeth to hold Washington accountable. There is 
simply no other way to bring future stewardship of taxpayer money. 
Fifteen years ago, the Balanced Budget Amendment failed to pass the 
Senate by one vote after it passed this House with overwhelming 
bipartisan support. Our fiscal reality would be very different.
  Mr. Speaker, we are at a crossroads in our nation's history. We do 
not have a debt ceiling vote crisis, we have a debt crisis. We need to 
stop focusing on a single vote and instead focus on the future 
consequences of our actions. It is time to put America back on track to 
debt reduction and job growth.

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