mr. westmoreland. i certainly enjoyed serving with you in the georgia house where we balanced the budget on an annual basis and made cuts certainly much larger than this on a percentage basis. quite honestly, on an annual or a semiannual basis, when we were there. and i want to point out one thing that you talked about that's not being talked about much here and that is that the total cut, the total cut we're talking about is a little less than $2.5% of federal spending -- 2.5% of federal spending. so the problem with the sequester is not that it's an unreasonable amount that's being cut, it's where it's being cut from. so here we are, less than 48 hours from the president's sequester, our commander in chief's sequester, that's going to go into effect and set into place $1.2 trillion over the course, over the course, ladies and gentlemen, of 10 years, and that's one of the things that needs to be pointed out. it's not $1.2 trillion over the course of this year. it's over 10 years. so you're talk about

mr. westmoreland: we borrow about $4 billion a day. this energy tax would just really keep us from borrowing for one day. mr. lankford: yes. and it will drive up the cost of gasoline yet again for all americans. this doesn't solve the problem. it continues to exacerbate the problem. our issue is we're facing a difficult moment. but this is not a moment that is manufactured by some sequestration event. this is a moment that has been created by overspending year after year after year, and now the acceleration of debt and deficits and interest payments each year is climbing so quickly that if we don't get on top of it soon we will not be able to get on top of it in the days ahead. this is not just a manufactured short-term crisis. this is a serious economic crisis for the united states, and if it's a serious crisis for us, it is a serious crisis worldwide. we have the responsibility as the largest economy on the planet to be responsible with our finances and to get our economy back on track so the entire world's economy can begin to get ba

mr. westmoreland of georgia. mr. rooney of florida, mr. heck of nevada, mr. pompeo of kansas. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's pursuant to section 643-c, public law 112-240 and the order of the house of january 3, 2013 to the commission on long-term care. the clerk: mr. steven guilliard, ms. grace marie turner of alexandria, virginia. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the house stands adjourned until noon on i can report to you the state of this old but youthful union is good. >> in keeping with time-honored tradition i have come to report to you on the state of the union and at pleased to report that america is much improved. there is good reason to believe that improvement will continue through the days to come. >> my duty tonight is to report on the state of the union. not this data or garment of our american community. and to set forth our responsibilities in the words of our founders to form a more perfect union. the state of the union is strong. >> as we gather tonight, our nation is at war. our economy is in recession. the civilized w