[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15309-15310]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           FIXING OUR ECONOMY

  (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, the election is over. The people of 
this country have spoken and said loudly and clearly that they want us 
to work together to create jobs and fix our economy.
  I agree with economists who say that the threat of a fiscal cliff, 
like the need to immediately reduce the deficit, is

[[Page 15310]]

being overblown. And it is done like the debt ceiling debacle to create 
a do-or-die situation where it is hoped that Democrats would agree to 
cuts in programs that would lose jobs and lock more people into 
poverty. That is unacceptable in this, the greatest country in the 
world, and we cannot agree to it.
  We are being asked to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years. 
Through cuts and caps put in place already, over the next 10 years we 
are projected to cut that deficit by $1.7 trillion. That leaves $2.3 
trillion. If we allow the growth in the economy to continue, even at 
its present slow pace, that can help to reduce the need for that level 
of cuts even more.
  The poor and the middle class are already doing their part through 
the cuts that are already in place. Now it is time for everyone else to 
do theirs. The rest of the deficit reduction must come primarily from 
eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy who have continued to do very well 
during the recession while everyone else suffered.
  This Congress can avoid taking us to yet another fiscal cliff and 
avoid sequestration by working together in the balanced way that the 
American people have asked us to.

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