Debt Ceiling Crisis

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASTEN. Madam Speaker, my Republican colleagues are presently fiddling while Rome burns, but I come to praise my Republican colleagues, not to bury them.

I come to praise my friend Patrick McHenry for his wisdom just 6 months ago when he said that he opposes Speaker McCarthy's plan to use the debt limit to cut spending; when he said that it is important that Congress raise the debt limit; when he said that Treasury markets are the lifeblood of the global economy; when he said it is an important function of the government for us to make good on the checks we cash.

I come to praise the July 2019 version of Speaker McCarthy when he said that we should not leave here without doing something on the debt ceiling.

Where are those brave, principled souls now?

The answer, Madam Speaker, as you know, not here. Empty, inconsistent rhetoric does not pay the bills.

The American people know that, and I hope the American people will remind my Republican colleagues of the work requirements of this job during their upcoming 11-day vacation.

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