Date: 2011-07-29
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

The gentleman from California is very kind for leading this effort. and Im delighted to be here. Weve really got a regional. national perspective here: the gentlemen from Colorado. from Connecticut. the gentlelady from Ohio. and. of course. the gentleman from New York. and the gentleman from Virginia. and Texas. Texas is a big State. I heard a colleague on this side of the aisle say that Texas has got all kinds of articles to talk about how great a State it is. Its a great State. but when you dont spend money on people. you wind up like Texas. being 43rd in education. or you wind up having the State with the largest number of individuals without health insurance. and so I have joined my colleagues today because I truly believe. standing on this side of the Chamber. that there is an opportunity for bipartisanship. But yet we have individuals who have been influenced by signs that say No Surrender. No Surrender. Those words were more appropriate for our Founding Fathers as they stood against oppression. No Surrender. But these words are not appropriate against the American people. that we wont surrender. no matter what happens to the American people. we in this Congress are so influenced by voices that truly do not have the concept of invest and grow. and they dont have the concept of Make It in America. What a wonderful statement about the greatness of America. Not No Surrender but Make It in America. because America is not broke. and the voices of negativism that would propose legislation that would have us cut without investment. cut without revenue. means that we surrender on the American people. I wanted to mention that we havent said what is happening to local government. Here is a major headline that says States Feel Pain Over Debt Impasse. We all come from the people. outside of the Beltway. and what is happening to the States is that the markets are being troubled. I had a press conference and a meeting with my city comptroller whose investments are in Treasury notes. Its not just what we do here on the floor of the House. Our cities will have a troubled economic infrastructure if the Treasury notes that they have invested in all of a sudden drop with severe. if you will. losses. And so I wanted to say that this is more than just us. it is more than one person in a leaky boat. it is many of us in a leaky boat. Just in the last 48 hours. to the gentleman. the Dow went down 200 points. In the last 12 hours coming in today. the Asian markets and our markets have seen a dramatic drop. and as you well know. we were here until 11 oclock at night trying to wait until the conference. in essence. got itself together. So let me just say that the debt ceiling from my perspective should be a clean one. but we should go forward with innovation. investment. and balanced cutting. We should preserve our Medicare. Medicaid and Social Security. Finally let me say this. If the States are being troubled now and people are being influenced by the language or the words No Surrender. can you imagine what happens when 6 months from now the bill that passed with no Democrats. we would come back again to the American people. tell them to be fearful about Medicaid. Medicare. Social Security. tell our students they might not have Pell Grants for the second semester. tell people in the midst of buying a house their interest rates will skyrocket. because well be back again trying to debate the debt ceiling. and if various draconian measures are not passed such as balanced budget amendments by threefifths. twothirds. we will have another default. We need to be focusing on what is good about America. Make it in America. Invest. innovate and grow. and have mutually balanced sacrifice. Thats what will make us great.