[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12531]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     REBUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. A lot of commentators have been talking about the debt 
ceiling, the market, the jobs numbers. What we should be talking about 
is people, families facing tough decisions looking for help from a 
Congress that doesn't seem interested.
  Americans are tired of watching Wall Street speculators, CEOs, and 
big corporations call all the shots. Working people need a Congress 
that understands today's tough economic reality and focuses on making 
their lives better. Unfortunately, because of politics in Washington 
and extreme ideology, that's not happening.
  My Republican colleagues have been very public about their intention 
to take apart Medicare and Medicaid to pay for yet another tax cut for 
the millionaires and billionaires and to preserve subsidies for big oil 
companies. They've decided our current economy is the fault of the 
American people, and now they're going to empty middle class pockets to 
pay for it.
  The talk in Washington right now is driven by ideology that really 
has nothing to do with cost savings or preserving the American Dream. 
What it's really about is who suffers and wins when Congress decides 
that ideology is more important than job creation and that Social 
Security and Medicare aren't worth paying for anymore.
  It's time we reward people for what they contribute, not for what 
they can get away with taking.
  It's time we expand opportunity and protect the middle class.
  It's time to focus on the real crisis in America--the jobs crisis.

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