Cliff Stearns: “Let me say to my friends on this side of the aisle and to the people from New York City and from New York: Can anyone…”

“Let me say to my friends on this side of the aisle and to the people from New York City and from New York: Can anyone come down to this House floor and question this spending without being attacked on their character? Mr. Speaker, there is no strategy or tactics we've developed here. We are just saying it's the CBO. The CBO has scored this at $11 billion. They said it's a template for future types of programs. They used the word ``entitlement.'' It creates another mandatory program. This is not the Republicans talking. This is the CBO. For you to come down here and question anybody who questions spending in this country of taxpayers' money and then to disparage our character is wrong. It is ironic that the President has created a fiscal commission to look at debt spending and entitlements. Yet Congress is pushing ahead with yet another spending program. We can talk about this intelligently without your emotionalizing this issue. But Mr. Speaker, we don't need to create this entitlement. We should do a 5-year program with the standard reauthorization and appropriation process.”