[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11874-11875]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            THE TRUTH: AMERICA'S DEBT CEILING MUST BE RAISED

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, my good friend did what many 
of us did, my neighbor in Louisiana. I went home to Texas, and 
interacted with so many constituents, many of them asking the question: 
Why? I believe it's important to ask the question: Why not?
  Let me tell you, my friends, that we don't need to politicize the 
debt ceiling, which has been raised many, many times, but we do need to 
tell the truth: for if the debt ceiling is not raised, trillions of 
dollars will be lost, not of those of us who sit on this floor, but 
from the portfolios and packages for seniors and 401(k)s.
  If you want to talk about $1 trillion, talk about what will be lost 
to our seniors and hardworking Americans in collapsing their 401(k)s. 
There is no option. There is not an option for the

[[Page 11875]]

short term. That's a joke. That's politics to start us back again in 
April or March. Let's go forward with the proposed Reid plan. Let's get 
a deficit reduction; raise the debt ceiling; cut what we can and go 
into regular order. That is the responsible, adult way to go.
  America is watching. America is looking. I am not going to stand by 
while trillions of dollars are lost. I ask my Republican friends to 
join us in a reasoned response to America's concerns.

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