[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18381]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             DEFICIT CRISIS

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, our country is facing a crisis. I'm not 
talking about the made-for-TV crisis that's going on right now over the 
fiscal cliff. I'm talking about the deficit.
  The national debt now stands at $16 trillion. At the end of this 
President's next term it will be close to $22 trillion. Both parties 
bear the blame for this. Both branches of the legislative branch bear 
the responsibility, multiple administrations. And just as everyone was 
involved in the creation of this problem, we need all hands on deck for 
a solution. But unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be so.
  Mr. Speaker, growth is critical. The last quarter of this year likely 
will see growth at 1.2 to 1.3 percent. That's not going to cut it. As 
long as we continue to push a tax policy that punishes success rather 
than provides for a pro-growth strategy, we will never grow our way out 
of this problem.
  And then on the spending side, when are we going to have the open 
congressional hearings where we focus on the waste, the favoritism, the 
duplication that occurs in our Federal agencies? It's far past time for 
us to focus on those areas and allow the public in and allow the public 
to see how their money is being spent.
  Failure to act on the deficit will likely rend the very fabric of our 
Republic. I, for one, do not want to see that happen.

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