[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11543]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             DON'T DEFAULT

  (Ms. EDWARDS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I look across my 
congressional district and across this country where people have lost 
their homes, they have lost their jobs, and they have sacrificed their 
retirement accounts because our fiscal house hasn't been in order, and 
here today we sit awaiting the opportunity to do for the American 
people what we ought to, which is to prevent a default, to prevent a 
default that would result in further sacrificing of retirement savings 
and jobs and homes across this country. They're really depending on us.
  I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to say that we have an important 
responsibility to our seniors to protect their Medicare and their 
Social Security benefits, to make sure that we're creating 
opportunities for education for their children, to make sure that we're 
creating jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, 
our highways, our rail systems, and we haven't done our job.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I say it's time for us to stop the silliness, to 
prevent the default, and to get on with the Nation's business.

                          ____________________