Rick Allen: “I thank Congressman Banks for yielding, for the Special Order here this evening, for his leadership in crafting this…”

“I thank Congressman Banks for yielding, for the Special Order here this evening, for his leadership in crafting this very important budget, and for this discussion we are having on it tonight. Madam Speaker, obviously, we have been waiting on a budget to vote on in the United States Congress and have yet to see a budget. Then I think we learned that there may not be a budget in the United States Congress this year. That is very hard to understand because we are spending $4 trillion to $4.2 trillion. Two-thirds of that $4.2 trillion is mandatory spending, which is basically on automatic pilot, and it is skyrocketing. The biggest increases in our deficit are created by this mandatory spending. On the discretionary side, it is about a third of what we spend totally. As far as discretionary spending goes, we have had some modest increases. For the first part of the time that I was in Congress, we basically had budget caps, and, actually, discretionary spending was held to the same level the entire time. I think it is sad that we are financing our standard of living in my generation on the backs of my children and their children and their children and their children. So what do we do about it? I am very proud to talk about what Jim Banks and his leadership and what the Republican Study Committee have done in presenting here this evening. This budget exemplifies fiscal sanity and preserves American freedom.…”