Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, when did the idea of ``compromise'' get to be a dirty word? When did the idea that ``my way or the highway'' is the only way to go forward become the order of the day? We are at a stalemate because we cannot come to some basic ideas about how to move forward.
Here's the fact, absolute fact, irrefutable: We do not need to link and tie deficit reduction to raising the debt ceiling. They are independent necessities. They are two different things, and one does not have to be tied to the other. And when you link the two together, you are holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage to a set of budgetary cuts.
This is a mistake. It is not statespersonship. It is not what we are elected to do.
Yes, we have to do deficit reduction, but it doesn't need to be linked to raising the debt ceiling. We should raise the debt ceiling now and then work on debt reduction.
How do we do that? We need more people paying taxes to reduce the deficit. That means jobs; that means infrastructure.
Let's get it done now. Raise the debt ceiling and pass a good infrastructure bill at the same time.