gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of this rule to bring the full faith and credit act to the house floor. i had hoped that amid all the controversies gripping this congress, certainly we should be able to agree that the full faith and credit of the united states government should not hang in the balance every time there is a fiscal debate in washington. unfortunately, even so common sense a proposition as this cannot produce a consensus in today s congress. this bill simply guarantees the debt of the united states. no matter what political storms are raging in washington. the public credit must be maintained. yet this president and his followers, who have taken our nation on the biggest borrowing binge in its history, who have run up more debt than almost all of his predecessors put together, oppose this attempt to assure credit markets that whatever else happens in washington their loans to this government are absolutely safe. most states have had simila