On the recordJune 8, 2012
This amendment is very simple. It would reduce the proposed funding for salaries and expenses of the Congressional Research Service, or CRS, back to fiscal year 2012 levels this year. Mr. Chairman, we have to look at savings at every line of these appropriations bills, no matter how big or small they may be. This amendment would take almost a million dollars and transfer that money to the spending reduction account. Also, keep in mind that I'm not asking to cut anything. I'm not making any single cut in funding from CRS. I'm only asking that they receive the same amount of money that they are getting this very year. We are in far worse shape than we were 1 year ago economically. Our national debt has hit almost $16 trillion, yet this Congress continues to blow through trillions of dollars with a reckless disregard for our economic reality. Mr. Chairman, I think CRS should have to pitch in and do their part by spending no more money next year than they're spending this year. It's called tightening the belt. Families have to do it, States have to do it, and branches of the Federal Government should also have to do it. We have to stop spending money that we do not have. I ask that my colleagues support this amendment as a step in the right direction for doing just that. I reserve the balance of my time.
