Political Quotes

“Under existing law, funding for Public Land Corps is capped at $12 billion annually. The bill before us, H.R. 1612, would remove this cap. The amendment offered by my colleague, Mr. Bishop, would not only leave the cap in place, but also force the program to sunset in 5 years. Madam Speaker, as we all know, when the Republicans controlled this Congress and the White House, they presided over the largest increase in Federal spending in the history of this Nation. Amendments like this one provide important clues as to why that happened. Are we honestly worried about runaway spending on youth job, training, and education programs? Is it imperative that we clamp down on efforts to put young people to work repairing trails and visitor centers used by American families when they visit in parks and public lands? Of course not. This is the definition of being penny wise and pound foolish. Republicans want to cap and sunset a popular, effective, bipartisan jobs program; but when they controlled the entire Federal budget, they spent like sailors on leave. Big spending, runaway spending, all those analogies fit. This is a poor attempt to appear fiscally responsible after years and years of irresponsible free spending. This amendment is not necessary. The fact that this program is already incredibly popular, an enactment of H.R. 1612 would make it an even bigger success.”