congressional_record: CREC-2012-12-31-pt1-PgH7474
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-2012-12-31-pt1-PgH7474 | 2012-12-31 | 112 | 2 | FISCAL CLIFF | HOUSE | HOUSE | ALLOTHER | H7474 | H7474 | [{"name": "Robert J. Dold", "role": "speaking"}] | 158 Cong. Rec. H7474 | Congressional Record, Volume 158 Issue 171 (Monday, December 31, 2012) [Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 171 (Monday, December 31, 2012)] [House] [Page H7474] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] {time} 0930 FISCAL CLIFF The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Dold) for 5 minutes. Mr. DOLD. Mr. Speaker, I want to first start off by thanking my friend from Missouri for his service and working with him on legislation in the past. Just to pick up on what he said about our World War II heroes, we do need to put the country first. I think that certainly we're here on New Year's Eve and we're upon the fiscal cliff. What we do need to focus on is how do we find that common ground, because what we do know is I believe Democrats and Republicans alike want to put our country on a course to some fiscal discipline--we hope. Is there a course where we can find enough common ground to move it forward so that we don't have a downgrade, so that we don't spike unemployment, so that the markets don't go down. Mr. Speaker, I'm a small business owner. I employ 100 people. For me, it's 100 families. I meet a budget and a payroll. What they're looking for when I talk to people back home, they're looking for some stability, they're looking for certainty, and what we're doing here is not providing any of those things. And yet I do believe that there is a spirit of comity that we want to find that common ground and move forward. I'm sorry that we're here on New Year's Eve and that we haven't solved this problem long ago. I will say, Mr. Speaker, that the House did send a bill in August over to the United States Senate. Going back to my time as a small business owner, I can just tell you, if I'd given something to one of the people that I work with, marked it ``urgent'' and put it on their desk months ago and it sat for month after month after month, something would be wrong. Well, in essence, Mr. Speaker, that's exactly what we've done. We sent something over to the United States Senate months ago, marked it ``urgent'' because this is talking about the direction, the fiscal direction of our Nation, and yet nothing is coming back. Unfortunately, Washington works on brinksmanship. We don't want brinksmanship; we want stability. The world is watching, and we need to focus on the common ground to move things forward. We want to make sure that we can keep tax rates low. We want to make sure that we can bring additional revenue into the Federal Government. I believe that's going to be through growth. That's going to be sparking the American spirit, that entrepreneurial spirit across our country to bring more dollars into the Federal Treasury, to get more people back to work. The thing that's amazing, Mr. Speaker, is there's a lack of leadership, a lack of leadership here in Washington, D.C., that's palpable. We need to move forward. During the budget season, those on the other side of the aisle, myself, some of my colleagues on my side of the aisle, put forth a budget, the first bipartisan budget in a generation, based upon the Simpson-Bowles plan, talking about the need to bring additional revenue in, talking about the need to put spending cuts out there because Washington has this sense of spending, Mr. Speaker. Republicans have overspent; Democrats have overspent. I'm not here to point the finger. What I am looking for is a solution to the problems we face. My hope is that we can get those done today. The American people demand it, the American people need it, and the world is looking to America for leadership. Mr. Speaker, on a different note, I want to rise today to recognize an extraordinary lady, a great American, one who raised four children and instilled in them a love of family and country, taught those around her the idea that your integrity determines your identity. In fact, she gave me that plaque, and it hangs in my room today. I want to say it again, Mr. Speaker, because I think it is so very, very important: Your integrity determines your identity. She also instilled a fantastic work ethic in those around her. A teacher, first of special needs children, then in English as a high school English teacher for a number of years, she left the teaching profession to have a family and then became an entrepreneur. She went into the private sector, helped people get jobs, put food on the table for families, and helped those families get an education. Mr. Speaker, this great American lady celebrates a birthday today. I'm sorry that I'm not with her, but I am in spirit. Happy birthday, Mom. ____________________ |