[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13190]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0910
                  LET'S INVEST IN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, our economic problems are eminently 
solvable. They just require confidence in the American people. But the 
American people have lost confidence in Congress, and it's easy to see 
why.
  Exhibit A: the inability to reach a deal on a grand bargain on debt 
reduction. Last year, the Speaker and the President negotiated a plan 
to reduce the debt by $4 trillion through a mix of spending cuts and 
revenue increases, revenues that would come, not from raising taxes, 
but closing special deals, institutionalized corruption.
  That plan represented a balanced and bipartisan approach. The economy 
today would be performing much better had that deal been enacted. But 
the Tea Party-controlled Republican House rejected the deal.
  Exhibit B: the refusal to act boldly to create jobs and rebuild the 
infrastructure of America. We just spent $89 billion rebuilding the 
roads of Afghanistan. Last week we passed a bill to spend just $52 
billion a year in rebuilding roads and bridges right here in America. 
That's a weak plan. In fact, it's pathetically weak. That is why the 
American people have lost confidence in Congress.
  The best tax policy is to invest in America and the American people 
and to bring lost taxpayers back to work.

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