C. W. Bill Young: “I just think it is time now to get real about what it is that we are doing and what it is we are talking about. We've…”

“I just think it is time now to get real about what it is that we are doing and what it is we are talking about. We've heard all of the facts and figures being thrown out. This $2 billion cut will have the effect of reducing this budget $6.7 billion below last year's level, adjusted for inflation. Whether my colleagues like it or not, there is an inflation factor out there that we have to take into account, and so this would not be a freeze, it would be $6.7 billion below last year in terms of actual buying power. Now, this subcommittee that brings this bill here today has already cut $1.3 billion out of the original number that this House gave us to work with. They gave us the number, and we worked from that number. We have had to cut it $1.3 billion already, from subcommittee to the floor. Now we talk about the defense budget. For the last 12 years, including this year, the real dollars invested in our Nation's security have declined while almost every other spending account that has been mentioned in that same 12-year period increased. So, in effect, we are playing catchup, and there is a lot more that needs to be done than we are doing here, and I am going to talk about that in just a minute.”