Porter Goss: “Also under this rule we allow Members to set cutting and spending priorities and to offer further reductions in…”

“Also under this rule we allow Members to set cutting and spending priorities and to offer further reductions in government spending, a new idea here. Mr. Speaker, the broader vision today is to take on another important step toward fiscal responsibility and accountability to the American taxpayer. That is what we promised. I want Members to know that passing this rule will give us the opportunity to make two crucial advances in the way we do business. First, we will have the opportunity to vote for emergency disaster relief. That is entirely paid for, never been done before, new idea. We are paying for it, and at the same time we are making a major downpayment on our pledge to the American people to cut waste, reduce spending. That is what the vote was in November. Last month I submitted my third annual list of spending cuts to the Committee on Appropriations. I am pleased and gratified to see that committee acted on several of those proposals in this package. Included, for instance, is a $45 million rescission in the Economic Development Commission, a $5 million rescission from the Legal Services Corporation, a $3 million rescission from the Rural Electrification Administration, a $5 million cut in TVA programs, along with several more cuts in areas I and others have targeted as wasteful spending, and, as the gentleman from Louisiana has just been reading from a long catalogue of redundancies, there is more to be done.”