[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12337]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  WE NEED A BIPARTISAN DEBT COMPROMISE

  (Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I've heard many of my 
Republican friends claim that providing the private sector with 
certainty and then getting out of its way is one of the ways Congress 
spurs economic recovery. Unfortunately, Speaker Boehner's plan does 
neither of those two things. It delays a catastrophic default only for 
a short time, keeping this crisis going before requiring the same 
charade in 6 months time.
  If House Republicans are so unwilling to consider compromise today, 
if they eschew the bipartisan compromise that's proposed under Simpson 
Bowles, the Biden Group, and the bipartisan Gang of Six, why should the 
American people have any faith that when they come back in 6 months 
they will be more willing to compromise?
  Where the Boehner plan fails, the Senate proposal provides economic 
certainty to the American economy through 2012, while protecting 
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security from the drastic cuts the 
Boehner plan envisions. And according to the CBO, the Senate plan's 
$2.2 trillion in deficit reduction is more than double the Boehner plan 
of $915 billion.
  The American people have spoken, Mr. Speaker, in poll after poll, on 
our phones, in our emails and at our offices. Get a bipartisan 
compromise now.

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