Political Quotes

“Funded at $32 billion, the FY2013 Energy and Water appropriation bill that we have under consideration today actually spends about $87 million more than we did last year. With a $1.3 trillion deficit and a national debt that's now more than $15 trillion, I think we have got to do better here. This amendment simply says let's pare it back. Let's do an across- the-board cut of .027. Now, the reason we picked that number is that would bring us back exactly to last year. I think when you look across the country, you look at what State and local governments are doing in order to balance their budgets. Sometimes they are going all the way back to 2005, 2004, or maybe more to balance their budgets. What are we doing here in Congress with a $15 trillion debt? We're actually increasing spending on some bills. Now, we have cut others, and I have supported the so-called Ryan budget where we do make some overall cuts, and that's good. But when you have a bill like this, I don't know how we can justify increasing spending $87 million over last year. Again, as some will say, well, this conforms to the budget agreement, the Ryan budget act and the 302(a) levels that we have set. That is true it does; but I would suggest that if we're increasing funding here, this is a good place to find savings and perhaps the 302(b) level should have been set a little lower. I would urge adoption of the amendment.…”