Cory Gardner

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. I thank the gentleman from California. Mr. Speaker, today I am glad to support a resolution that puts away the knives of politics and instead pulls out the shears of budget cutting. Thank you to Representative Walden for your work on the transition committee to again restore accountability and transparency by leading by example in one of the most historic institutions this world has ever witnessed. Throughout my time in the State legislature of Colorado and throughout the past several months I have talked to constituents around the Fourth Congressional District of Colorado about the need to lead by example--the need to start in our own backyard first to cut our budgets to make sure that we are leading by example. Just a couple of rows from here in this Chamber when we took the oath, my 7-year-old daughter accompanied me to witness the transition of power. But that means nothing if we cannot lead by example. And I will have failed her as a 7-year-old child, and every child like her, if we do not lead by example--and we start today by cutting our own budgets. The 5 percent cut to our budget is not massive, but it is monumental. And it's something that we must all take seriously, our efforts to begin leading the American people. Around this country, citizens of the United States are looking to Congress for signs of hope--signs of hope that we have learned a lesson that this Congress has spent too much, grown too much, and that we will put our own house in order. Mr. Speaker, today I have the honor of standing in support of a resolution that says to the American people we will indeed lead by example. We will begin in our house first.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. ``No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State.''