[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12465]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           PREVENT A DEFAULT

  (Mr. POLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, the Speaker of this Chamber has a choice to 
make with 3\1/2\ days remaining until we risk default on our debt. And 
what does that mean to American families? It means higher interest 
rates on your variable home mortgage. It means higher interest rates on 
your credit card debt. For our own Federal Government, as well as local 
and State governments, it means more of our taxpayer money will have to 
go to interest to service these existing debts.
  At this point, the Speaker of this body has a choice. To be sure, he 
has a negotiation ahead of him. He has compromise ahead of him. He can 
choose to negotiate and compromise with only those in his own party 
further to the right than he is within this very body, or to compromise 
and come to a deal with those who matter and can actually pass 
something into law that prevents a default.
  Namely, I call upon the Speaker to continue negotiations with the 
President of the United States and the Senate of the United States to 
resolve this self-caused crisis within 3\1/2\ days and avert a fate 
that will cost middle class families and taxpayers trillions of 
dollars.

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