[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12183-12184]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     ``COMPROMISE'' IS A DIRTY WORD

  (Mr. ELLISON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, when did the idea of ``compromise'' get to 
be a dirty word? When did the idea that ``my way or the highway'' is 
the only way to go forward become the order of the day? We are at a 
stalemate because we cannot come to some basic ideas about how to move 
forward.
  Here's the fact, absolute fact, irrefutable: We do not need to link 
and tie deficit reduction to raising the debt ceiling. They are 
independent necessities. They are two different things, and one does 
not have to be tied to the other. And when you link the two together, 
you are holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage 
to a set of budgetary cuts.
  This is a mistake. It is not statespersonship. It is not what we are 
elected to do.
  Yes, we have to do deficit reduction, but it doesn't need to be 
linked to raising the debt ceiling. We should raise the debt ceiling 
now and then work on debt reduction.
  How do we do that? We need more people paying taxes to reduce the 
deficit. That means jobs; that means infrastructure.
  Let's get it done now. Raise the debt ceiling and pass a good 
infrastructure bill at the same time.

[[Page 12184]]



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