Steve Womack

I have to tell you, that hurts to hear it referred to--to me, a slush fund is something that would be used to spend money unnecessarily or wastefully.

A number of us just returned from the Ukraine, and so I have got a question about what is going on in eastern Europe.

The threat is moving forward rapidly and progressing at an equal pace.

Seems to me that over time, we hear all of these time frames, in 6 months, in 1 year, and this has been going on multiple years, so forgive me for being a bit skeptical about some of this.

What concerns should we have about what our capability is in the eastern part of Europe given what is going on in the Ukraine and the potential for Russia to step up more of this aggressive nature that they seem to be playing?

If our goal is to convince the American public that we are going to achieve some kind of fiscal sanity...only on the discretionary side of the budget, the public is going to be terribly misled.

I am a big believer that the sequestration is a mindless approach, a lazy man's way to effect some kind of budgeting outcome.

I don't have a real good, warm and fuzzy feeling on this particular project.

I would like to thank you for including the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building and the U.S. Courthouse in the list of priorities in fiscal year 2017.

But if you could conclude, and I am not trying to speculate that that is a conclusion that you would come up with, but if one could reasonably conclude that this is a form of activism that is being used in a very prominent program, I am…

If LEED were to go down this path, if we can agree--or at least I will maintain that they are on a path of overregulation and extreme environmental activism--do you anticipate that there could come a day when GSA would cease to accept the…

Why did it take sequestration to force the Federal Government to practice efficiency?

We are not going to appreciably change the trajectory of the course we are on right now unless and until we deal with the mandatory side of spending.

I think what makes me hopeful is that there has been bipartisan agreement on that.

I want to give you some perspective before I close, Mr. Speaker. The only budget that we have laying out there right now is the President's budget. It arrived on time. It never balances--never--and continues to add a lot of taxes and a lot…

I thank the gentleman. Reclaiming my time, I just want to say, before I go to my next chart, that this isn't an option for us, to allow this to continue on this path without the interaction of this Congress and solutions offered by this…

Well, I am glad the gentleman did interrupt. And to carry our colloquy just a little bit further, the gentleman from South Carolina is a former Governor of South Carolina, so he has had some experience dealing with balanced budgets and…

How serious are you about looking at the mandatory side of spending, the two-thirds of spending that is on autopilot right now

The net interest on the debt is projected to be--in the President's budget--$785 billion. That is a staggering number.

Unless we have massive tax increases we are going to have a very difficult time addressing even the basic functions of government

We want them to be a good steward of the funds that are provided by this Congress.

I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick) for bringing this collection of bills to the House floor. I would also like to express my gratitude to Representatives Himes, Delaney, and Wagner for working with me on one of the…

I sense a perfect storm happening for our Reserve components.

Drug overdose deaths now number greater than motor vehicle crashes and greater than gunshot wounds.

Do you think that is a reflection of the priorities?