Cynthia Lummis

Washington, Feb 22, 2010 - Madam Speaker, it's a privilege to be here tonight on behalf of the Republican Party and on behalf of its members here in Congress. This evening we will be led by Judge Carter, Representative Carter of Texas, who is on his way to the Chamber at this point, but it's my privilege to cover for him until he arrives.

We have just finished, Madam Speaker, a week in our districts where we were meeting with members of our constituency. I want to inform you that among the issues that I heard about when I was home were still concerns from automobile dealers about franchises that have been put in jeopardy due to the automobile issue with General Motors; I heard about people who are trying to build houses in Wyoming and would create jobs in Wyoming doing so and had the building permits and the need for the housing confirms but that financing for building construction in Wyoming remains impossible to get because of new bank regulations that require two-thirds more security for those loans than was previously the case. Banks are simply unwilling to lend under the same terms that they would before to risk-takers who hire people to create jobs to build wealth and value in this country and who have strong credit ratings themselves and solid track records of producing jobs and producing value in the housing and the construction market in this country. That remains an issue around the United States and certainly in my State of Wyoming. Jobs must be the main criteria as we go forward this year; and the looming debt and deficit concerns continue to be voiced by people in my State throughout the week as I met with them.

As you know, we are preparing for more budget hearings now that Congress has reconvened after the President's Day recess. I'm on the Budget Committee, and we had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Orszag before the weather curtailed our activities and then the intervening district work period occurred. But we will be resuming those activities, hopefully meeting with Treasury Secretary Geithner soon and discussing the debt and deficit.

I want to remind my colleagues that last year we were approached by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the need for the United States to come up with a plan, a long-term plan to address our debt and deficits. It is not possible for us to accurately and clearly address our debt and deficit issues unless we discuss entitlements: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. There are components of those issues that will be discussed this week, hopefully, at the White House conference on health care.