[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3930-3931]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DECISION TIME IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Jeffries) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, this is decision time in America. We are 
at a fork in the road, and we have an opportunity to go in either one 
of two directions. In one direction, the Democratic approach, we can 
take a balanced approach to dealing with the economic situation that we 
find ourselves in and our deficit. The other direction, the GOP 
approach, is to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable 
amongst us. The Democratic plan will put Americans back to work. The 
Republican plan will put Americans out of work. It's decision time in 
America. We can go in one of two different directions.
  Now, a balanced approach to deficit reduction has at least four 
elements to it:
  First, invest in the American economy.
  Second, increase revenues by closing corporate loopholes that are 
unfair, unreasonable, and unnecessary.
  Third, we can reduce expenditures in a manner that is sensitive to 
the fragile nature of our economic recovery. We must reduce 
expenditures in a way that recognizes we still have a long way to go in 
order to recover, and the meat-cleaver approach advocated by my friends 
on the other side of the aisle will not make the decision better; it 
will just make the situation worse.

                              {time}  1040

  Lastly, the Democratic approach, the balanced approach, stands up for 
important social safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare, 
and Medicaid that have nothing to do with the economic situation that 
we find ourselves in right now.
  Why should we invest in the American economy?
  Well, we don't have an immediate deficit crisis in America right now. 
We've cut $2.5 trillion from our deficit over the last several years; 
and we're prepared, on this side of the aisle, to reasonably do more.

[[Page 3931]]

  But don't overhype the problem. In fact, objective economists have 
indicated we don't have an immediate deficit problem in America right 
now. The Speaker of the House of Representatives has conceded that we 
don't have an immediate deficit crisis in America right now.
  Just on Sunday, the chairman of the Budget Committee acknowledged 
that we don't have an immediate deficit crisis in America right now. 
That's why we're pursuing a balanced approach.
  What we do have is a jobs crisis. Over the last 4 years, under the 
leadership of President Obama, we have come a long way, almost 6 
million private sector jobs added. But we still, of course, have a long 
way to go.
  Let's just look at the landscape. Corporate profits are way up. The 
stock market is way up. The productivity of the American worker is way 
up. Yet unemployment remains stubbornly high, and consumer demand 
remains stagnant.
  That's why the Democratic approach is to invest in our economy, 
invest in education, invest in job training, invest in transportation 
and infrastructure, invest in research and development, invest in 
technology and innovation, invest in the things that will continue to 
make America a leader in the 21st century.
  If you invest in our economy, then you will increase jobs for the 
American worker. If you increase the jobs available to the American 
worker, consumer demand will increase. If consumer demand increases, 
the economy will grow; and if the economy grows, the deficit will 
decline, and so, too, will our debt as a percentage of GDP.
  This is decision time in America; and, clearly, the best decision 
that we can make is a balanced approach to dealing with our economic 
problems today.

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