Let me thank my friend from Maryland for answering this, because I do think it's important for the Democrats to be given an opportunity to offer an alternative budget, and I'm glad that you will be, and there will be five such budgets. And…

Let me ask specifically, the mulligan budget that the President offered yesterday, will it be on the floor of the House today?

The spending debate in Washington boils down to a couple of fundamentals: We spend 23 percent of our GDP; that is the level of spending of Congress. The revenues to GDP are only 18 percent. So you have a 5 percent difference in what your…

America is at a huge crossroads right now. We're in a situation that whenever we spend $1, 40 cents of it is borrowed. Our national debt is about 95 percent of our GDP. We are losing our edge as a global leader. It hurts our job creation…

Can you imagine in your household if, for every $1 you spent, 40 cents was borrowed? Can you imagine if you were in that situation and didn't change your buying or your spending habits? That would be absurd. Yet that's what the U.S…

In the classic movie by Frank Capra called ``It's a Wonderful Life,'' the main character, the hero, played by Jimmy Stewart, contemplated the question of what would the world be like if you had not have lived. In his case, what would his…

What is the budget battle about? It is about our country; it is about our kids; and it is about our freedom. Imagine if you were borrowing 40 cents for every $1 that you spent in your household. You would change your purchasing habits…

I just want to say that I don't think that Mr. Zandi has any more credibility. We have already spent $800 billion on his advice that the stimulus program would work, and it did not work.

I have heard that. And I understand there is something like 150 other economists who have signed a letter to that effect that was led by John Taylor, who is an economist as well.

I want to make three very important points right off the bat: Number one, our debt is almost at 95 percent of the GDP. It's the highest debt we have ever had in history. Last year alone the deficit was $1.5 trillion. We are borrowing 40…

Imagine in your own household if, for every dollar you spent, 40 cents was borrowed. Obviously, you would sit down with your family at the kitchen table and say, Okay, for every dollar we spend, 40 cents is borrowed. We're going to have to…

So there's not a feed subsidy for them. I just want to make sure, Mr. Chairman, because I understand there was an incident. We do support the amendment.