House Proceeding 02-03-09 on Feb 3rd, 2009 :: 0:43:35 to 0:50:15
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0:43:32 to 0:43:52( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: congressman barren hill, to make a few comments. mr. hill: i thank my friend from louisiana for yielding me this dedica 14 days ago, mr. speaker, obama became president of the united states.

0:43:35 to 0:50:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Baron Hill

0:43:53 to 0:44:14( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: listening to some of my colleagues earlier in the evening, you would have thought by listening to them that the 0 trillion deficit that we're now facing was created by president obama within the last 14 days. and we all know that that is not true. as a matter of fact, the largest

0:44:15 to 0:44:35( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: budget deficits that we've ever had have quite frankly come under e presidencies of three republican presidents. one in the 1980's, one in the 1990's and this last president that we've had for the last eight years. the blue dogs have the special hour here today andor years

0:44:36 to 0:44:56( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: we've been coming to this microphone to talk about the dangers to the long-term economy by driving up these deficits. and we have had a day of reckoning that happened several months ago that in par was

0:44:57 to 0:45:18( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: caused by wasteful spending and deficit spending. while we have been warning this congress about -- what we have been warning this congress about for many years is that if we do not get a fix on our national deficit, it is going to have a devastating effect upon our economy. now here we are, standing before the american people, telling the

0:45:19 to 0:45:40( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: american people that that day has arrived. now in totality it was not the thought of the federal budget deficit. there were things going on with the financial markets that were no good but here we are trying to figure out what to do next. now, the blue dogs did something that was extraordinary, or at least most of the blue dogs, not all of the blue dogs did it.

0:45:41 to 0:46:01( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: but many of the blue dogs felt like -- that this economy was in such dri -- dire straits that we had to forego the disciplines that we have practiced for many, many years, in light of the fact that our economy was tanking, we, or many of us, felt like that we should borrow more money in order to stimulate the

0:46:02 to 0:46:23( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: economy. but in the process of doing that, we have had ongoing negotiations with the folks in the obama administration, that while many of us were willing to suspend our feelings about fiscal discipline in order to jumpstart the economy, that somewhere down the line, very

0:46:24 to 0:46:44( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: soon, as a matter of fact, that we had to implement new pay-go rules in order to get a handle on this spiraling budget deficit that is out of control. now it's not -- it's going to take some time to climb out of the hole that we find ourselves in after eight years of the bush administration. but we must start now to impose fiscal disciplinon the federal

0:46:45 to 0:47:05( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: government so that our children and grandchildren do not bear the burden of our debts. blue dogs know that we need to work quickly to put budget enforcement tools like statutory pay-go in place so that we can begin paying down the national debt that is crippling our economy and putting future generations of americans in jeopardy.

0:47:06 to 0:47:27( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: this is why we have been working with our leadership in the house as well as newly appointed office of management d budget director to make sure that we put back on a path to fiscal responsibility an economic sustain -- and economic sustainability. now, just recently at the

0:47:28 to 0:47:48( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: dogs' asking, dr. or zog recently sent a letter to the leaders saying the president's support for a return to pay-go budgeting, moving forward we need to return to the fiscal responsibility and pay-as-you-go budgeting that we had in the 1990's for all nonemergency measures.

0:47:49 to 0:48:10( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: the president and his economic team looked forward -- this is not me reading my worded, this is dr. orzag sing this, the president and his economic team look fward to working with congress to develop budget enforcement rules that are based on the tools that helped create the surpluses of a decade ago. putting the country back on the path of fiscal responsibility

0:48:11 to 0:48:32( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: will mean tough choices and difficult tradeoffs, but for the long-term health of our economy, this president believes they must be made. that letter was sent to the leaders of this congress at the request of the blue dogs. who have been consistently and per petly making sure, madam

0:48:33 to 0:48:53( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: speaker, that -- perpetually making sure, madam speaker, that this congress get its fiscal house in order. president obama has been very clear about his intentions to clean up the federal budget. cut out wasteful spending, reinstite pay-as-you-go budgeting and address long-term fiscal challenges facing the country. as a strong moderating force within the house of

0:48:54 to 0:49:15( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: representatives, we look forward to continuing work with the president and others in congress to put forward a plan for real fiscal reform over the long-term. the bottom line is that our country is maintaining an unsustainable level of debt that is threatening not only our economy, but our national security and the quality of life of every single arican.

0:49:16 to 0:49:37( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: we had to do something about it now and the blue dogs stand ready to make the difficult decisions necessary to reverse the out of control spending and reckless fiscal policies of the last eight years, not the last two weeks. and so, madam speaker, blue dogs look forward to working with this president and working wh the leadership of this congress

0:49:38 to 0:49:59( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: to make sure that after we've diop this stimulus that we start the process of getting our fiscal house in order by paying pay-as-you-go statutory pay-go rules. with that i yield back to my good friend from florida, allen boyd, who has been a stalwart champion in this regard as the leader of the blue dogs for the

0:50:00 to 0:50:16( Edit History Discussion )

Baron Hill: last two years. we welcome his remarks here this evening. mr. boyd: madam speaker, ladies and gentlemen, thank you. i thank my friend from indiana, baron hill, and from louisiana,