I've Heard That Song Before

Floor Speech

Mr. McCOTTER. Ah, the new civility.

I would like to start, Mr. Speaker, by thanking my Democratic colleagues this morning for disabusing me of an affliction. When I woke up, I found that I had a hankering to listen to Led Zeppelin, and I couldn't figure out why. This has happened before, usually when I leave the TV on at night and they run one of those Rolling Stones '70s buy it now before it's more expensive or in the dustbin ads. So I was walking over here and I'm thinking, wow, is it because there's been a communication breakdown between the parties? It's possible. It's possible. I said, Is it because one of the nice Senators is wearing a cashmere sweater? It's possible. But, no, I was sitting here today when I realized why I wanted to listen to the melodious strains of Page, Plant, Jones, and John Bonham. It's because for the Democratic Party, the song remains the same.

Once again, seniors and children wake to the hysterical, frightening visage of specters of gloom and doom--Democrats. Once again, we are regaled with the Democrats' entitlement reform plan. It is called do nothing, spend everything, go bankrupt, benefits bye-bye.

We continue to see a party that does not understand you cannot lift an economy when it is crushed beneath the weight of Big Government. We continue to see a party ideologically zealous in spending your tax dollars on Planned Parenthood to the point where they would shut down the Federal Government to do it. And we continue to hear the fundamental crux of the issue of a potential government shutdown. The Democratic Party will shut down the government so they can spend more of your money. The Republican Party is committed to keeping the government open and spending less of your money.

In fairness, it is not just Led Zeppelin they remind me of, because the reason we stand here today on the precipice of a government shutdown is because they did not do their work when they had total control of the United States Congress last year. They could not even pass a budget, let alone finish these appropriations which we are still dealing with well into April, let alone lay out a coherent strategy to do so when the parties changed power in this House.

The song remains the same, but the American people recognize the song and dance. They will not be fooled. They know that the major change that we see before us today in the fight over government spending is a very simple one, and a very simple choice. It is the difference between bankruptcy and solvency; and the Republican Party stands for solvency and for liberty.

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