OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010--Continued

Floor Speech

Date: Dec. 14, 2010
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Taxes Economy and Fiscal

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Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Madam President, I am pleased and proud to follow my colleague from Idaho. What we are hearing about is all the challenges that face our Nation, and there are many of them right now. This massive set of budget deficits and overall debt we face--it is a crippling debt--requires probably the most serious and difficult effort we are facing right now as a people.

A strong country--I heard Senator Wyden say this, in effect--is a solvent country. Conversely, a broke country is a weak country.

I can't help but remember Erskine Bowles, the Cochairman of the Commission we are talking about today. He was asked: Why are interest rates still low? Why are our bonds still desirable? He said: Don't let's fool ourselves. Senator Chambliss would appreciate this because he used a Southern turn of phrase. He said: Look, we are still the best looking horse in the glue factory. That is the only reason that our interest rates and our bonds are still strong.

What do we do about that? There is a way forward. The bipartisan commission has put in front of us a plan. None of us agree with every single item. It is a way forward. It is important to note of the 11 votes, 5 of those votes were Senators from our body. Five of the six Senators who represented us on this Commission voted to move forward.

That is the way forward--for us to join together, Democrats and Republicans alike. Despite our differences of opinion on many other issues, I think we can agree on one thing; that is, developing fundamental tax reform and addressing, in the process, our long-term debt problems.

Like Senator Wyden, I am going to vote no tonight. I think this is a misguided effort, and we will add $900 billion to our debt load. But I respect my colleagues who see it otherwise. I am going to vote no, and I am going to come right back to work tomorrow with all of us in the Chamber. We are going to meet this challenge head on. The stakes are too high if we do not.

I yield the floor to the Senator from Tennessee.

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