[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11381-11382]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1140
                            THE DEBT CEILING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Tipton) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, as Americans, we face a challenge. The 
question yet to be answered is: Will we rise to be able to meet that 
challenge?
  We can often hear in the debate on this floor something that happens 
at every Super Bowl at half time. It's called ``kick, pass, and punt.'' 
We can kick each other around, we can pass on this problem in 
addressing it today, and we can punt to the next generation. But I 
think far more is expected of us.
  The people who elected us, the people who sent us to this office, are 
seeking solutions and leadership to be able to deal with the true 
challenges that we all face at home.
  Last night around dinner tables across our country, moms and dads 
were going over the family budget looking at how much it cost to fill 
up that gas tank, how they're going to meet that family budget to be 
able to put food on the table, to be able to keep a roof over their 
heads. They're spending within their means.
  Forty-nine of our 50 States have one form or another of a balanced 
budget requirement meaning that, as States, they have to be able to 
live within their means. Surprisingly, only here in Washington, D.C., 
in our Nation's capital, do we think there is this inexhaustible 
resource called the American taxpayers' hip pocket to be able to draw 
from so that government can grow. The constant argument, my friends, is 
government needs it more than the people at home. I don't think so. 
Come and walk my district. Look in the eyes of the people right now 
that are struggling to be able to keep that roof over the top of their 
heads.
  We have that economic challenge. We face a debt in this country of 
$14.4 trillion. Now, I don't know about you. I'm a small businessman. 
It's hard really to get your arms around just what is a million 
dollars, let alone a trillion dollars.
  Well, if you're a basketball fan, you may have paid a little 
attention to this

[[Page 11382]]

last season. LeBron James, arguably one of the best basketball players 
in the entire country, being paid $40 million a year to be able to play 
basketball, well, if he wants to earn just $1 trillion, we have to wish 
him very good health. He'll have to play basketball for 25,000 years to 
earn just $1 trillion.
  We've stacked up over $14.4 trillion. The President has asked for a 
blank check to increase the debt of this country an additional 2 
trillion-plus dollars.
  Is the time now for fiscal responsibility in Washington? It is. We 
have to rise to be able to meet that challenge. Cut, cap, and balance, 
is that unreasonable? We can demonize it. We can say that Washington is 
above the rules of every American and the rules they have to be able to 
live with, or we can look to the people who we sent to Washington to 
stand up for us to live under the same constraints that we do in our 
individual lives.
  If we've spent more than we've taken in, we have to be able to find 
ways to be able to cut back. We then also have to have that alternative 
to be able to restrain that spending and then to be able to balance the 
budget.
  Unfortunately, yesterday the President said that it was going to be 
dead on arrival. I hope that our American citizenry will rise to this 
challenge. I have great hope that this Chamber will pass Cut, Cap, and 
Balance. But we need to let the Senate of the United States and the 
President of the United States know that we're going to be holding them 
accountable. Our future truly depends on it.
  This is our time. This is our challenge. This is truly our 
opportunity. Let's put aside what is often referred to as just politics 
as usual. This is not a Democratic issue. This is not a Republican 
issue. This is an American issue.
  I hope that our Members will join with me in seeking real solutions 
to real problems to deal with it so that the American people can look 
to a brighter future.

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