Following months of meetings with northern Illinois citizens, Congressman Don Manzullo today joined his colleagues in presenting a new agenda for America focused on putting Americans back to work, halting tax increases, restraining government spending, and reforming Congress itself.
A Pledge to America, a new governing agenda authored by House Republicans, was compiled following thousands of America Speaking Out town hall meetings this summer designed to seek the ideas of the people for returning our nation to prosperity. Manzullo alone held 10 citizen meetings across northern Illinois. Nationwide, citizens offered more than 16,000 ideas at the meetings and online that were used to develop the new agenda for America. The full agenda, A Pledge to America, can be viewed here.
"Americans are fed up with the job-killing, big-spending agenda in Washington that is delaying our return to prosperity," Manzullo said. "At the 10 citizens meetings I held this summer, the people spoke loudly of their desire for a new way forward. One young man summed up the frustration of most when he said "I just want the government to leave us alone.' Their ideas were among the 16,000 submitted nationwide that were used to develop our Pledge to America, a set of bold and immediate solutions that renews a commitment to our founding principles and offers a new way of doing business in Washington.
"We are offering a jobs plan to end the economic uncertainty for American small businesses, make America more competitive, and help put Americans back to work. As massive debt threatens the prosperity of our children, we have a credible plan to rein in the budget deficit. To keep America safe from threats abroad and on our border, this pledge offers a commitment to national and border security. To honor the will of the people and protect the American health care system, we have a plan to repeal the new health care law and replace it with solutions to bring down costs. And, as Americans increasingly view Congress as a broken institution, we offer a plan for reform to provide real accountability and transparency.
"Because the American people cannot endure any more of Washington's misguided agenda, we pledge to begin fighting for these solutions today. Having enlisted the voices of the American people, we are now well prepared to move America forward and restore our founding principle of accountability to the people."