Speeches

Mr. Speaker: The House is poised to pass HR 325. I respect the sincerity of its supporters, but I must firmly dissent. This bill accommodates spending at ruinous levels far beyond the limits set by the House budget. It sets a terrible precedent by abolishing the debt limit for nearly four months, giving an unlimited credit card to this administration.

This rule brings us a spending package of more than $50 billion that is supposed to be for emergency repairs in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. That averages $450 from every household in America. $450. These families have a right to expect that this money is being used for genuine emergency relief. But it's not.

To understand the federal budget mess and the so-called fiscal cliff, it's important to remember three numbers: 39, 37 and 64.

The world has become an infinitely more dangerous place in the four years since you first invited me to this annual luncheon.

The world has become an infinitely more dangerous place in the four years since you first invited me to this annual luncheon.

The good news about our economy is that it hasn't been struck down by some mysterious act of God. Acts of Government plague our nation -- and acts of Government are entirely within our power to change.

Up until a generation ago, federal resources policy could be summed up in a single word: abundance. In 1905, we instituted the National Forest Service under the guidance of Gifford Pinchot, who summed up the agency's mission with this simple maxim: "The greatest good for the greatest number in the long run." We recognized that America's vast natural resources gave us the tools for unparalleled prosperity, and that we should responsibly manage these resources on a sustainable basis for the continuing prosperity of the American people.

It seems that in the last few years, America's thoughts are returning to that remarkable man and searching him for answers to the questions that now perplex us in our own times.