[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 15168-15169]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1100
             INTELLECTUAL CONSISTENCY FROM THE LEFT NEEDED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Schweikert) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Speaker, this is one of those moments where you 
come to the floor--I am unscripted--and I want to sort of share 
something from the heart that actually has really, really disturbed me 
watching this debate over the last few days.
  I am from Arizona and I like to say I am a friend of Gabby Giffords, 
and I have known her for a very long time. Do we all remember 3 years 
ago when this House came together, when my media in Arizona and the 
media across this country said, whoa, maybe it is time to actually take 
a step backwards and reflect on our use of language, reflect on our 
tone, reflect on our civility.
  Yet look what you have heard over the last two or three days, over 
this last week. I have a President that got behind the microphones and 
was literally talking down the stock market, asking why hasn't it gone 
down. I have one of the heads of the intelligence services fearful that 
the intelligence service officers are bribable now because some are on 
furlough. I have had Members come to the microphone right off to the 
side of me here and use language like ``terrorist.'' The White House 
has stood behind the use of the language of ``gun to the head.'' You 
want to talk about something that is offensive? And this is to all my 
brothers and sisters here in Congress and for the blogs and the 
reporters and the political operatives around this country, you are 
better, we are better than this.
  A good example is you just heard the Representative from New Jersey 
come to the microphone. I can only say nice things about his tone. He 
made his argument in a rational, constructive way. We have different 
views of the world. There was none of the flailing of the hands and the 
screaming into the microphone. And you have to start to take a step 
backwards and wonder, why the theater, why the viciousness and the 
theater coming from the left.
  I hope we don't look back a month from now and find out that some of 
this was about money, fund-raising, the politics of cash; because the 
reality is this argument is actually pretty darn simple. Those of us on 
the conservative side believe we have and we have reached out over and 
over. And if you really want a solution, and this is to Senator Reid, 
send over some Members to that conference committee. Put them in a room 
and let them start talking.
  I am from that view of the world that a big deal is healthiest for 
the country; but then I will hear language like, well, we are heading 
toward the debt ceiling and you are going to default. Anyone that says 
that is looking you in the eyes and lying to you, either that or they 
don't own a calculator. You have got to understand the math. This 
country takes in 18 percent of GDP in taxes, and we pay out 2 percent 
in debt coverage. And in 2014 we have, what, $1.6 trillion in 
refinancing.
  The fact of the matter is any way you ladder the model, we are never, 
ever, ever--and I am also quoting Bill Gross from a couple of days 
ago--we are never, never, ever, ever, it is implausible that we won't 
make our interest payments. You have $3.1 trillion we are going to take 
in in tax revenues. We are going to spend about $3.7 trillion. So using 
language like, well, we are going to default, has the left decided that 
they are hungry to scare the markets, hungry to scare the world debt 
markets, and is this how you leverage politics?
  Look, I understand we have different views. I actually believe the 
Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, is part-timing

[[Page 15169]]

America, is destroying so many people's opportunities. But I also do 
believe we do have to come up with solutions and continued solutions 
for preexisting conditions for someone with severe asthma. But we have 
our vision, we want to get to the same goal.
  So to my friends on the Democrat side, particularly over in the 
Senate, 2 years ago you lit up my phones in my office demanding that we 
talk and negotiate on other issues. So that rhetoric was acceptable in 
the summer of 2011, but today it is not? How about just a little bit of 
intellectual consistency from the left?

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