Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the bill, to no surprise of my friend from Oregon. Let me help him a little bit with how I give opposition in context. As the ranking member of the Budget Committee, Mr. Speaker, it is not possible for me just to consider how we are going to get soybeans out of Arkansas as the sole limiting factor on how we budget. It is important, it is important to my producers, but at the end of the day, we are $23 trillion in debt. The deficit this year, to add to that $23 trillion, is expected to approach $1 trillion. H.R. 2440 would disrupt the recently enacted budget agreement. Now, Mr. Speaker, you know that we did months of negotiation on some agreement to keep the government open and operating. This body established discretionary spending caps for the next 2 years with the passage of the bipartisan Budget Act of 2019. The bill before us today breaches that law; it increases that deficit. So my question is: What was the point of us going through that arduous process of negotiating a bipartisan, bicameral agreement with the President so that, just 3 months later, we could shoot a $10 billion hole in it? This bill would increase the deficit by up to $10 billion, which I believe is unacceptable, given our fiscal condition. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the annual deficit this year will be $1 trillion, adding to the already $23 trillion in debt. Now, let me be clear.…”