PODCAST Congressman Dave Camp Republican weekly radio address download MP3 1.97 mb running time 2:48 min.
Full Text Transcript:
"Hello, I am Congressman Dave Camp from Michigan, and I serve as the lead Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee.
"American families and small businesses are hurting, and Republicans know that we must act to help get our economy back on track, but we also know that we can't borrow and spend our way back to prosperity.
"Last week, Democratic leaders in Congress railroaded through a $1.1 trillion spending bill. As soon as next week, they may bring up a bill that spends another half trillion dollars. And that is on top of the $700 billion in TARP money - and perhaps untold billions more - we're spending to help banks and homeowners.
"Congressional Democratic Leaders' track record on spending taxpayers' money wisely this year is already lousy. House Republicans offered a plan to help our economy using fast-acting tax relief that would have created 6.2 million jobs - twice the jobs at half the cost of the Democrats' trillion-dollar government spending bill. Instead, the Democrats' bill included money for electric golf carts, billions that could go to scandal-plagued groups like ACORN, and millions more just to renovate government office buildings. Despite promises of openness and transparency, it was written in a backroom and rushed through Congress so quickly that few - if any - Members of Congress read it.
"Next week, we have an opportunity to hit 'reset' and try again to work in a transparent and bipartisan way to address our nations' problems. On Monday, Members of Congress from both parties will join President Obama at the White House for a 'Fiscal Responsibility Summit.'
"Republicans and Democrats agree that the American people deserve a secure retirement, including affordable health care they can count on. But we all know that vital programs like Medicare and Social Security face serious financial challenges as Baby Boomers get older, people live longer lives and families have fewer children.
"Republicans genuinely want to work with the President to solve these problems - in a responsible way that does not burden our children and grandchildren with a mountain of debt. The summit next week is an important step, as is the budget outline the President will release at the end of the week. If he is serious about dealing with the tough issues and getting spending under control, his budget will show it.
"If we do not act, we doom the next generation to fewer and worse government services, drastic tax increases, and unprecedented debt. We must not leave that legacy to our children and our grandchildren.
"Thank you for listening."
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