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August 1, 2011

August 1, 2011. The “Budget Control Act of 2011” increases the debt limit by between $2.1 and $2.4 trillion, the biggest explosion of debt in American history. It allows the government to avoid spending reductions for the next two years while squandering our last best hope of averting a sovereign debt crisis.

I am opposed to this measure for the following reasons:

August 1, 2011

August 1, 2011. This act increases the debt limit by between $2.1 and $2.4 trillion, the biggest explosion of debt in American history. It allows the government to avoid spending reductions for the next two years while squandering our last best hope of averting a sovereign debt crisis.
I am opposed to this measure for the following reasons:

July 30, 2011

July 29, 2011. This measure immediately increases the debt limit by $900 billion with conditional provision for an additional $1.6 trillion, yet is unlikely to achieve savings sufficient to prevent a downgrade of the nation's credit rating.

July 28, 2011
Columns

Column, Washington Times: Imagine a family that earns $50,000 a year but is spending more than $88,000 with a credit card balance of $330,000. The discussions around the kitchen table are likely to be a little tense.

Proportionally, that’s where Washington’s finances are today, and that’s why the national discussion is a little tense, too.

Issues:Fiscal and Economic
July 21, 2011
Speeches

Mr. Speaker: On June 26th, a roadside bomb in Jalula, Iraq claimed the life of a young man from Oroville, California. He was Army Staff Sergeant Russell Jeremiah Proctor, age 25, on his third tour of combat duty.

Issues:Local Issues
July 19, 2011
Speeches

This vote stands as a defining moment in this crisis. Every rating agency has warned that an increase in the debt limit without a credible plan to balance the budget will damage our nation’s credit. Worse, fiscal experts warn that without such a plan, we risk a sovereign debt crisis within just a few years.

Issues:Fiscal and Economic
July 11, 2011
Speeches

M. Chairman: This amendment saves $166 million by relieving taxpayers of having to subsidize another year of handouts to the solar industry.

Solar power is not a new technology. Photo-voltaic electricity generation was invented by Edmund Becquerel in 1839 – more than 170 years ago.

July 11, 2011
Speeches

M. Chairman: This amendment would save roughly ten percent from this appropriations bill, or $3 ¼ billion, by getting the federal government out of the energy subsidy business.

July 7, 2011
Speeches

Mr. Chairman: For more than three months, our nation has been amidst a quiet constitutional crisis that carries immense implications.

The Gentleman from Florida is sadly mistaken to dismiss this as a meaningless philosophical discussion. This issue strikes at the very heart of our Constitutional form of government.

June 24, 2011

The Bee’s latest editorial on water accuses me of “promoting” a “water grab.” The Bee was well aware that as Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Water and Power, I intervened to stop the bill in question (H.R. 1837) and announced it would not proceed until and unless it is amended to fully protect Northern California water rights.