Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, we better not forget how we got here in the first place. The President, when he raised his hand in January of 2009, inherited a $10.6 trillion debt. Let us not forget history. I know this is like a Kabuki dance today.

   You're not only not sincere about this, but this is all process. The American people, the folks in my district, are not interested in process. They're interested in results. What are the results? How does this help the guy or gal on Main Street? That's what we should be talking about.

   This bill we know is going to fail. You already told your Wall Street friends, ``Don't worry about it. Don't take it serious.'' That's just like a reality show. The Republicans have warned their Wall Street friends, and as The Wall Street Journal said today, they are in on this ``joke.'' But as in poker, they're not all in.

   Alexander Hamilton, who founded my city of Paterson, New Jersey, understood that good credit is integral to being a world power. It is by no means a joke.

   Failure to act will have immediate and dire consequences. Now, the world is not going to collapse this afternoon or tomorrow when this legislation goes down in a few hours. The majority is willing to risk all of that in order to play political games to force their failed economic policies. It didn't work in the last 10 years. It's not going to work now.

   Mr. Speaker, this is serious business. This is not a joke.

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