[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18568-18569]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   THE AMERICAN ECONOMY NEEDS TO GROW

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, the people in this Chamber who do all the 
complaining about spending, the record clearly shows, voted for all the 
spending that they complain about: two wars that took $1 trillion out 
of the American economy, unfunded tax cuts that created the worst 
economy in 60 years, and an unpaid drug prescription program that will 
cost $730 billion over the next 10 years.
  Moreover, the House Republican budget for 2013 spends $900 billion 
more than it takes in in revenues. That Republican budget imbalance 
will require raising the debt ceiling early this year. Raising the debt 
ceiling does not authorize you to spend more money. It authorizes you 
to pay back the money that you've already spent. Republicans in this 
House voted for it, and they have a moral obligation to repay that 
money.
  Mr. Speaker, the American economy needs to grow much more than the 
projected 2 percent for 2013. Two percent growth is not enough to 
sustain the current level of employment. The American economy needs 
robust growth at 3 to 4 percent, growth that can only come from 
investments in education, road and bridge building, research. We need 
to do nation-building not in Afghanistan, not in Iraq, but nation-
building at home, here in America.

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