[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10876-10877]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               WE NEED A BIPARTISAN DEBT LIMIT AGREEMENT

  (Mr. QUIGLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, as Secretary Geithner has observed, 
failure to raise the debt ceiling would have catastrophic economic 
consequences that would last for decades. This view was shared by 
former Treasury Secretary Paulson, who says that inaction is simply not 
an option. I agree, and believe that raising the debt ceiling must be 
accompanied by deficit reduction, mostly by cutting spending, but also 
by eliminating some unnecessary tax breaks.
  Now, there are those who say that there are no unnecessary tax 
breaks. Let me just give you one. If your neighbor buys a car and pays 
interest on the loan to buy that car, that interest is not tax-
deductible. If your other

[[Page 10877]]

neighbor buys a yacht and pays interest on the loan to buy that yacht, 
that interest is tax-deductible.
  When we are borrowing 40 cents for every dollar, we have to ask 
ourselves if those tax breaks are really worth it. If we are starting 
from scratch, would we really give yacht owners an extra tax break?

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