House Proceeding on Feb 3rd, 2009 :: 0:02:55 to 0:08:15
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0:02:51 to 0:03:12( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. wolf. for five minutes. mr. wolf: i thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i know it sometimes takes a crisis to move congress to action.

0:02:55 to 0:08:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Frank R. Wolf

0:03:13 to 0:03:34( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: we're in financial crisis mode today, and while there never is a convenient time to make hard decisions, the longer we wait the more dramatic the required remedy will be. americans everywhere understand we're in trouble. when you wrap your head around the following facts and figures, it's stomach turning the things -- that things have gotten that bad.

0:03:35 to 0:03:57( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: over 6 trillion in unfunded obligations through social security, medicare, medicaid. the national debt nearing 1 trillion, and china, which violates human rights and has catholic priests in jail and evangelical pastors in jail now holds the paper on one out of every 10 american dollars.

0:03:58 to 0:04:19( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: david walker, former u.s. comptroller general of the government accountability office has said that the sum of these statistics equal a storm off our coast that is strong enough to swamp our ship. i believe it's even more compelling. entitlement spending is

0:04:20 to 0:04:40( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: squeezing the life out of every discretionary dollar this committee appropriates. math and science initiatives so that our children receive the education that will enable them to compete in a global economy. medical research initiatives that will help us find the cure for cancer, autism and alzheimer's, infrastructure projects to build safe roads and bridges are all at risk if

0:04:41 to 0:05:02( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: congress continues to keep its head in the sand while the financial tsunami moves closer to the shore. in recent weeks, the congressional budget office has projected that the federal budget deficit will balloon to .2 trillion this fiscal year alone. that doesn't include the 00 billion economic stimulus package recently passed by the

0:05:03 to 0:05:24( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: house, a package which i believe represents a missed opportunity for congress to address the nation's financial future in a truly bipartisan manner. congressman cooper and i have been speaking out about the dangers of runaway spending and the need for lawmakers to come together to tackle this issue. we join together and introduced bipartisan legislation in the

0:05:25 to 0:05:45( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: last congress to create a commission to review federal spending with everything, entitlement and tax policy, on the table. the safe commission short of securing america's future ecomy will look beyond the beltway for solutions holding at least 12 town meetings, one in each of the federal reserve district over the span of 12

0:05:46 to 0:06:07( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: months in order to hear directly from the american people after having a supermajority of the commission members in agreement on the package of recommendations. the house would vote uor down on the commission's recommendations, modeled after the base closing commission process. congress would be forced to act. i offered the safe commission as an amendment to the house

0:06:08 to 0:06:28( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: passed stimulus. when it came through the appropriations committee. and because it failed more in the process than the substance, i also submitted to the rules committee the ability to offer the amendment. i was disappoied that the rules committee denied full debate on this measure, which is a bipartisan measure, which would have given every single member of the house who

0:06:29 to 0:06:50( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: understands the dangers of runaway entitlement spending a chance to be on the record on this issue. quite frankly i worry that the congress is not up to the job, and if we allow our children and grandchildren to languish in a political divide. the commission process gives us a necessary push to get the job

0:06:51 to 0:07:13( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: done. one of the most compelling statements i've read about our current state of affairs comes from an unlikely source. richard fisher, president of the federal reserve bank at dallas, has called our situation catastrophic, noting that, quote, doing deficit math is always a sobering exercise. he said it because an outright painful one when you apply your

0:07:14 to 0:07:36( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: calculator to the long-term fiscal challenge imposed by entitlement reforms, unquote. it's out of the ordinary for the federal reserve to publicly express an opinion on fiscal policy matters, but these are not ordinary times. in closing, make no mistake, this could well be the hardest economic issue our nation will ever be faced with.

0:07:37 to 0:07:58( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: but we cannot afford to wait to act. the future of our children and gr balance. this is an economic, it is a moral and it is a generational issue. i believe this congress has the ability to come together and do what the american people want us to do. if we do not do it, if we do not do it history will judge

0:07:59 to 0:08:15( Edit History Discussion )

Frank R. Wolf: the 111th congress in a very harsh manner. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio, mr. boehner, for five minutes.