Steve Womack: “A constant theme on our side has been that of national security, a reason why we should support the agreement that has…”

“A constant theme on our side has been that of national security, a reason why we should support the agreement that has been hammered out between the administration and the four corners of leadership in the House and the Senate, and I stand by that. We have had speakers from the House Armed Services Committee, the House Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee and so on, and it is an important reason because of how much money it commands of Federal taxpayer money to actually protect, secure, and defend the United States of America. But, Mr. Speaker, one of the discussions, one of the debates we are not having is about the true drivers of the deficit and the debt, and that is a conversation that I would like to introduce in these proceedings today. I brought a chart with me. As I was preparing my remarks today, I got to thinking: What were the numbers back in 2010 when I first sought office in the House of Representatives versus what we are talking about today? So we have a snapshot in time of 2010 and a snapshot in time of what we are debating today. Mr. Speaker, I direct your attention to this chart because, in 2010, discretionary spending, which is the spending that most of us kind of relate to the Federal Government, everything from keeping the lights on at this Capitol to paying for the men and women who are downrange defending our freedoms, was a little over $1.2 trillion in 2010.…”