Jane Harman: “Mr. Chairman, at this time I am guessing that most Americans are watching events unfold in Iraq on their television…”

“Mr. Chairman, at this time I am guessing that most Americans are watching events unfold in Iraq on their television sets. These are the events they should be watching, not this debate on a budget that does not even include expenses for the war and the reconstruction effort in Iraq. If I had my way, we would be talking about that war all day today, or if we were debating a budget, we would be debating a wartime budget that called on us to make real sacrifices. That is not what we are doing. We are debating a set of resolutions, the best of which by far is the Blue Dog resolution, and I rise to support it. I represent smart constituents. They know that money does not grow on trees. They do not want a tax cut, and they are not asking for it. They do not want trillion-dollar budget deficits, and they certainly are not asking for them. Indeed, in contrast to the yawn of a response the administration gave to projected deficits, my constituents understand the serious fiscal consequences of hemorrhaging red ink. Rather than punt this issue to future generations as the Committee on the Budget proposes, families in my district, like families everywhere, expect Democrats and Republicans to sit down together and make tough choices on what our government can afford now and what we must defer. That is where the Blue Dogs come in.”