John Chenoweth: “Mr. Chairman, one of the oldest tactics of argument is the shotgun approach. In debate, they bombard their opposition…”

“Mr. Chairman, one of the oldest tactics of argument is the shotgun approach. In debate, they bombard their opposition with a flurry of arguments in the hopes that somewhere along the line one of their points will ring true. In football, an all-out blitz gives the defense the very best odds that somebody will sack the quarterback. But, Mr. Chairman, the appropriations process in the Congress is not a high school debate, and it is not a football game. Instead, it should be a solemn responsibility of the elected representatives of this great Nation to determine the just allocation of the hard-earned money of our Nation's taxpayers. We do not have a fair and honest debate on individual departments or programs. Instead, in the VA-HUD appropriations bill, we will have alphabet soup, an approach to government. Let me just read to my colleagues some of the names of the agencies that we are dealing with: HUD, EPA, CEQ, OEQ, FDIC, FEMA, NASA, NSF, ABMC, CSHIB. Mr. Chairman, I am sure my colleagues get my point. It goes on and on and on. Why are we forced to vote in favor of increased funding for agencies like HUD in order to just get funding for our veterans and complete our promises?”