[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11373]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         CUT, CAP, AND BALANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Herger) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Cut, Cap, 
and Balance Act.
  The national debt has shattered confidence in our economy, has cost 
jobs, and is preventing our economic recovery. Working families across 
our Nation are living within their means during tough times. If the 
rest of America gets it, why doesn't Washington?
  I recently did a Main Street-style walk-and-talk in my district where 
I met with a number of small business owners and their employees. They 
shared their concern about our out-of-control debt and frustration with 
Washington for enacting policies that hold down job creation and 
economic growth rather than fostering an environment that will enable 
them to thrive. But the comment I heard most often was, ``What is 
Washington thinking?'' I told them I really don't understand it either.
  President Obama has spent his administration enacting policies that 
have added more debt to our Nation than the previous 43 Presidents 
combined. The tragic reality is that the President's big spending 
policies only made things worse. Unemployment is at 9.2 percent, and 
that doesn't count the millions who have given up. The President merely 
fomented a cycle of debt and joblessness that defines the last 2\1/2\ 
years, which has placed us where we're at today.
  Now, with the national debt at crisis levels, he is standing in the 
way of commonsense solutions; offering only lectures, not leadership. 
He has asked Congress to consent to continue business as usual without 
making serious spending reforms.
  As a matter of conscience, this Congress cannot support allowing 
President Obama to continue to steer America's debt past the point of 
no return. Mr. Speaker, we will be judged harshly, and rightfully so, 
by future generations if we fail to act. The Cut, Cap, and Balance Act 
ends the era of rampant government spending. It immediately reduces 
spending by $100 billion, cuts $6 trillion over the next 10 years, and 
demands a strong balanced budget amendment.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act is what the 
American people want and what Washington desperately needs.

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