Heidi Alexander: “while the assistant Republican leader is on the floor, I wish to say a word about this chart that I mentioned earlier.…”

“while the assistant Republican leader is on the floor, I wish to say a word about this chart that I mentioned earlier. He mentioned this is the first bill where we are spending $1 trillion. Most of us on both sides of the aisle, I know especially on the Republican side of the aisle, are concerned about the Federal debt, which is $19 trillion, and we make great speeches about it. But as we begin to talk about the $1 trillion we are about to appropriate in 12 bills, I would like to invite my colleagues to look once again at the bottom line. That is the money we are talking about. This is the $1 trillion that we are working on. It has been flat since 2008. It is going up at the rate of inflation or a little less, but that is $1 trillion. We are spending $4 trillion this year. The other $3 trillion is not what we are working on in these 12 bills; the other $3 trillion is automatic mandatory spending and interest on the debt. If we add interest to that red line, it would be even higher. So I may offer an amendment at some point--maybe not on this bill--to turn the entire budget over to the Appropriations Committee because we are doing our job. We have kept spending down. That is not the problem. I hear that some people may want to say: Well, let's further reduce the blue line.…”