On the recordJuly 12, 2016
I thank the gentleman for yielding. I certainly appreciate the gentlewoman's amendment and her intent to reduce spending. As she well knows, we have reduced this bill somewhat over the years, as we have on all of the discretionary accounts that the Appropriations Committee is responsible for. This really is a decision based upon discussion regarding discretionary accounts versus nondiscretionary accounts. If we could have cut the nondiscretionary accounts as much as we have cut discretionary accounts, we could probably balance the budget plus. But unfortunately, we are not there. So I rise in opposition to this amendment. I commend my colleague for her consistent work to protect taxpayer dollars, but this is not an approach I can support. While the President's proposed budget exceeds the bill, the increases were paid for with proposals and gimmicks that would never be enacted. This bill makes the tough choices with an allocation that adheres to the current law. We may not agree that it is enough, but that is what the current law is. So we made trade-offs, and we have done many difficult choices to make this work. Mr. Chair, I urge opposition to this amendment.
