[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12323]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       BUDGET CONTROL ACT OF 2011

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Pompeo) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POMPEO. Mr. Speaker, throughout history, great change has mostly 
come from steady, determined hard work performed over long, long 
periods of time. Think of our Revolution. It took years. Think of the 
war that freed the slaves and the progression towards racial equality. 
It has taken years. Think of the continued long march against radical 
Islamic terrorism that continues today.
  Today, the challenge we face is a frightening economic challenge. We 
must put people back to work. We've got to grow our economy so we can 
pay off the crushing debt that has been heaped upon the next generation 
over the past 40 years. It is the fight of my generation. There are two 
world views to tackle this problem that threaten our Republic.
  The first, offered by the President and those who control Washington, 
D.C. today, is more government, more spending, more redistribution of 
wealth, and more physical and spiritual dependence on government. The 
American people rejected this world view on November 2, 2010.
  Then there is a second view. It is one that offers liberty and 
freedom from government instead of control by government. It recognizes 
that the left's morally misguided policies will expand government, 
suffocate growth, further depress job creation, and push millions of 
people farther away from any hope of rising out of poverty. These 
policies negatively impact American culture by squelching individual 
responsibility and initiative and work ethic. America has always had a 
cultural bias in favor of productive work, and has disapproved of the 
easy acceptance of charity and welfare payments when these are not 
necessary and when one can provide for oneself.
  These competing visions of America frame the debate over reducing our 
Nation's spending addiction. It is the fight we're having today. So, 
today, I will vote for a bill that for the first time in decades begins 
to turn the tide against the radical job-killing spending of our 
current President.
  Now, it's true that the election of President Barack Obama in 2008 
and the Democratic retention of the Senate in 2010 continue to have 
consequences, so this bill is necessarily insufficient. It does not 
complete the mission. If this plan is all we ever do, we plainly will 
have failed the task that the new class of freshmen was sent to 
Washington, D.C. to take on.
  But it is not all we'll do. We will continue to execute the will of 
the American people, and we will hold this Republic together by ending 
this spending addiction that has afflicted this town for decades. This 
bill is the Lexington and Concord of the American Revolution. It is 
Antietam to our Civil War. It is D-day to World War II. It is the first 
skirmish in a very long battle.
  That great Kansan, General Eisenhower, did not declare victory on 
June 6, 1944, after America successfully commenced its liberation of 
Europe. Rather, he acknowledged a good day, that the battle had been 
joined, and he had a deep recognition that he needed to continue to 
execute his battle plan.
  The American people spoke on November 2, 2010, and we now begin to do 
what they demand that we do.
  This bill we vote on today honors that commitment. We said we would 
not raise taxes. This bill does not do that. Our President complains. 
We said we would not increase the debt limit beyond the amount of 
spending reductions that we undertake. This bill does that. Our 
President complains.
  These were bold commitments we made to the American people, 
especially when Washington, D.C. continues to be controlled by liberal 
Democrats. How could we be sure that a rump group of Republicans could 
accomplish this? It had never been done before--but today, we have an 
opportunity as this monumental struggle begins.
  How big will our Federal Government be? Will our country return to 
its constitutional role of having bounded government?
  In Kansas, I know that the battle sometimes looks messy--big 
challenges often look that way. Today, however, I can say clearly that 
we have stopped a President intent on growing government, and we have 
begun to head down a path towards prosperity for our Nation and our 
freedom. It's a good day.

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