Porter Goss: “they say three times can be the charm. Well, today the House will, for the third time this Congress, approve an…”

“they say three times can be the charm. Well, today the House will, for the third time this Congress, approve an important budget tool to make sure that spending cuts we agree to actually translate into savings for the American people. We hope this action will be the charm in getting this budget reform done. As Members know, this House voted for the deficit reduction lockbox by a huge margin of 373 to 52 on August 4, 1995, as an amendment to the Labor-HHS spending bill. We voted for the lockbox once again, as a freestanding bill, by a vote of 364 to 59 on September 13, 1995. There is no doubt that if it were up to the clear majority of this House, lockbox would be the law of the land today. Of course we know that we must also convince our friends in the other body to concur--and that's where the holdup has been. And so, in sending them lockbox legislation as part of this omnibus spending bill, we will affirm for a third time that we really do mean business in getting lockbox in place for the upcoming appropriations cycle.”