Jeb Hensarling 
WEEKLY WASHINGTON UPDATE
July 24, 2010
This week in Washington, as I continued my battle against the spending, deficit and debt the difference between the present policies of the two parties was revealed in stark terms.
On the floor of the House we debated extending unemployment benefits. As I listened carefully to the debate, I didn’t hear anybody say we shouldn't be extending unemployment benefits. What I heard was that one side wanted to borrow 43 cents on the dollar, mainly from the Chinese, to pay for them – and many less worthy objectives – and send the bill to our children and grandchildren. Those were my friends on the Democratic side of the aisle.
What my conservative colleagues and I said was, in the $1.2 trillion of stimulus money or the unspent TARP funds, failed programs that have helped mire us in almost double-digit unemployment, maybe there are funds that could be used instead, so we would not add to the largest debt in America’s history – a debt that's only getting worse under Speaker Pelosi and President Obama’s watch.
Ultimately the people in America don't want more unemployment checks, they want more paychecks. Unfortunately, it is the policies of this President and the policies of this Congress, such as the federal takeover of health care, the permanent Wall Street bailout, the threatened cap and tax on energy bill, and the massive debt that goes along with them, that are holding job creation back.
It doesn’t have to be that way. I serve on the National Fiscal Responsibility Commission and one of my fellow commissioners, a Democrat and the former chief of staff to President Clinton, recently said our debt is a cancer that can destroy us from within.
So why do the Democrats in Congress refuse to pay for the extension of unemployment insurance or any other new spending? Until the Majority in Congress is willing to make the hard choices necessary to put our Nation’s fiscal house in order I’m afraid the spending, deficit, debt and unemployment will continue.
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Congressman Jeb Hensarling
129 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(903) 675-8288
For more information about Congressman Jeb Hensarling and
his commitment to the people of the 5th District of Texas,
please visit www.house.gov/hensarling