July 27: No Time for Political Games

It's time for everybody to quit playing politics and put our country first. This debate over the debt ceiling is a disservice to the American people. No one is winning this Beltway debate, and the nation stands to lose.

Putting our nation's credit rating at stake is dangerous and irresponsible. To allow America to default for the first time in its history would cause harm to every working family. Default would mean higher interest rates on cars, houses and student loans. It would mean fewer jobs and less growth.

What's more, this debate is keeping us from dealing with the important issues: economic growth and job creation.

The long-term solution to our fiscal problems is for our economy to grow and create jobs. But defaulting on our nation's bills will stifle economic growth and kill jobs. No question about that.

The vast majority of the American people support the expiration of those tax preferences to the people at the very top. Everybody's got to pull forward.

Congress should not leave Washington until we get this done—no weekends off, no August vacation.

Click here to watch my speeches on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the debt ceiling and other policy priorities.