Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, one problem that I see from my colleagues across the aisle and the President is that many of them have never signed the front of a paycheck. They have only signed the back of a paycheck. I was a small-town banker for 8 1/2 years. I practice the five Cs of credit: character, capacity, capital, collateral, and cash flow.

If our country was held to these same standards, President Obama would never get the loan that he's asking for. I have struggled on this vote because of the $14 trillion of debt that our Nation faces. President Obama has yet to come up with a plan that changes our spending trajectory, but this House has. Cut, Cap, and Balance--it's not just any plan, but it's revolutionarily reformed the way Congress spends money.

We aren't $14 trillion in debt because we tax Americans too little. We're in debt because Congress has spent too much money. We don't have a revenue problem, folks. We have a spending problem.

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Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina. I thank the gentleman from Ohio for that.

Folks, reforms like a balanced budget amendment, coupled with spending caps and significant spending cuts, are the types of revolutionary reforms that can prevent our children and grandchildren from inheriting mountains of debt. Passing off the debt problem to them may be the easy way. But it is not the American way, and it's definitely not the Christian way.

As President Reagan said, "You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but only for a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a Nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow.''

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