[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12532]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       COMPROMISE FOR A SOLUTION

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, last night we heard the Speaker of the 
House, John Boehner, talk about how he stuck his neck out and offered 
new revenues. Well, if so, then instead of chasing the most extreme few 
Tea Party members of his caucus to craft an even more unrealistic 
proposal, why doesn't he work with 193 Democrats to lead Congress to 
the balanced approach that Americans want? New revenue would allow for 
basic tax reforms, closing expensive unjustified loopholes and making 
the tax code more fair and simple. We could then cooperate on sensible 
reductions in long-term spending where there is already bipartisan 
agreement for agricultural reform, defense, and health care. If John 
Boehner was Speaker of the House instead of speaker of the Tea Party, 
we could start down the path of fiscal stability and end this 
artificial crisis.

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