Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, thank you for allowing me to speak today. I have said it before, and I want to say it again: the job of a Member of Congress is to protect the rights of the people, not take them away.

I want to explain what I mean by that. Those rights are outlined in our Declaration of Independence: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights were not given to us by a King or developed after extensive debate by a Congress. They come from God. They exist in the same way that gravity exists. They are natural.

But too often what gets left out is why we must protect those rights and why those rights are still relevant today. The reason is simple, and it's as practical today as it was in 1776: we protect those rights because in America we know that freedom leads to prosperity. Our country was built by Forefathers who believed in, and defended, that idea.

Every generation that came after them has followed their lead, rising to tackle whatever challenge came before them in order to protect the freedom of this Nation. Every American generation has left the country a little better off than they found it and handed it to their sons and daughters with the hope that they would do the same.

Thinking both about those who came before us and those who will follow us long after we're gone is in the very DNA of our country. That's why our Constitution's preamble explicitly states that it doesn't secure liberty for just the founding generation but also for prosperity.

Generations don't simply disappear. Instead, like an aging photograph, they kind of fade away until they are all gone. Right now, one of America's greatest generations is doing just that. In World War II, hundreds of thousands of Americans risked their lives on battlefields half a world away while the rest of them worked and sacrificed at home to make sure our troops had everything they needed.

The reason they acted so valiantly was because they understood the truth to American exceptionalism: that freedom leads to prosperity. They knew it, and they fought for it because it had been passed down to them from their parents, who had received it from their parents and so on. To them it was something worth fighting for, it was worth making sacrifices for, and it was worth dying for. Not a day goes by when I don't think about their sacrifices and remember what they did for me and everyone else in this great country.

They deserve to be taken care of. That is why I urge my fellow Members of the House from both parties to join me in supporting the Full Faith and Credit Act. As we work to cure the government's addiction to debt, we must ensure that the Greatest Generation is protected. They have already made their sacrifices in the defense of our ideals. They have already passed down freedom to us and given us a country that is better off.

We cannot be the first generation to fail America. We must follow the path of our Founding Fathers by preserving the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.

One great idea to preserve our great Nation was developed by our Speaker, John Boehner. In the days before the midterm elections of 2010, Speaker Boehner proposed ``taking a different approach'' regarding how Congress voted on budgets. He maintained that rather than having a ``comprehensive budget'' that encompasses all--or at least most of--government appropriations, the whole Congress should treat every budget for each Federal agency as an independent spending bill.

Speaker Boehner said:

Members shouldn't have to vote for big spending increases

at the Labor Department in order to fund Health and Human

Services. Members shouldn't have to vote for big increases at

the Commerce Department just because they support NASA. Each

Department and Agency should justify itself each year to the

full House and Senate and be judged on its own.

That is the kind of leadership that Americans across this great land support. Those are the types of ideas that we need to enact in order to take on the challenges that are ahead. I urge my fellow Congressmen to appeal to the better angels of their nature as we spend the next few months talking about our government's addiction to debt. Let's solve this problem.

Mr. Speaker, America has a spending problem. The numbers don't lie. With the national debt at $16 trillion and climbing, each American's share is more than $50,000. Things only stand to get worse. In fact, Federal spending is now projected to double to 40 percent of GDP in the next three decades. This out-of-control spending is a drag on our economy and a threat to our future.

The American people agree. Polls by Gallup, the Winston Group, and Politico last month indicate that Americans overwhelmingly support cutting government spending over raising taxes to address our debt. Despite the facts, President Obama and his fellow Democrats continue to deny we have a spending problem, pointing to more revenue as the answer to our debt crisis.

This Congress, House Republicans are committed to working together to find real spending cuts, meaningful reforms of the entitlement programs that are

driving us deeper into debt, and a fairer, cleaner Tax Code. We are committed to saving our economy for future generations, and I hope the President and his fellow Democrats will join us.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for granting me the floor today. It is truly an honor and privilege to be a Member of the House of Representatives, the people's House. We have all been sent here to serve the people, and I look forward to representing the freedom- loving, hardworking people of Michigan.

More than two centuries ago, Members of the first Congress were summoned to uphold and defend the Constitution. Because of the Constitution, America became a shining symbol of freedom and prosperity to the world. Today, we must ensure that America retains that luster.

Everyone arrives here from different walks of life. Some are lawyers, some are business leaders, and yes, well, at least one of us is a reindeer rancher.

I recognize we all have different viewpoints, and I understand that I have joined Congress during a contentious time. I do think, however, there is one thing on which we should all agree: The job of a Member of Congress is to protect the rights of the people, not take them away.

The national debt is approaching $17 trillion. The decisions we make in this Chamber not only affect us today, they resonate throughout future generations. The massive national debt we are accruing will leave to our children a weaker Nation than the one we inherited from our parents. Those yet to be born do not have a voice today, they don't have representation, but we must remember what we do here resonates for generations to come.

Our moment to preserve our great Nation has arrived. Our country is at a crossroads. We must stand together and get over our disagreements. We must strive valiantly and dare greatly, applying the principles that made our country so exceptional to solve the problems that the people of this great Nation sent us here to fix.