Liz Saville Roberts: “Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to this bill for several reasons. Earlier this year the Committee on…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to this bill for several reasons. Earlier this year the Committee on Agriculture and the Appropriations Committee conducted a series of discussions and meetings with leadership over the issue of mandatory and discretionary spending and which committee should receive credit for any reductions in these accounts. From these talks an agreement was forged with the Speaker, the Appropriations chairman, the Budget chairman and myself as chairman of the Agriculture authorizing committee, in which the Appropriations Committee pledged, for the purpose of deficit reduction, to stay within the bounds of discretionary accounts and the Agriculture authorizing committee would in turn stay on the mandatory side of the ledger. This was a fair compromise. This bill before us today is a disappointing violation of the spirit and letter of that agreement. It's not only disappointing for what it will do to the policy reform efforts the Committee on Agriculture is attempting, but also for the precedent it sets for the next 7 years of budget deficit reduction efforts in the Congress.”