On the recordFebruary 13, 2015
I thank the vice chairman of the Budget Committee. Mr. Speaker, people think these things happen in a vacuum. They don't. They happen because folks like Mr. Rokita take time away from their family and away from their constituents back home sometimes to work the long nights and the early mornings it takes to get a budget like this done. Just to give you an example, Mr. Speaker, I don't know if you have ever thought about it--$3.5 trillion is the size of our annual spending--annual spending. People often characterize--and I would tell you mischaracterize--Republicans as folks who want to shut down government. That is nonsense. You heard the gentleman from Indiana's heart as he was up here talking about his love for people, the needs that people have, and our opportunity to aid people and their families as they struggle with some of those challenges. We spend $3.5 trillion a year in that effort. It is not that we don't want to spend the money. It is that we want to spend it effectively, efficiently, and accountably. That is all folks ask for back home. They don't say, Shut the government down. They say, Spend my tax money effectively, efficiently, and accountably--$3.5 trillion, Mr. Speaker. If any of the young people who are coming to Congress to watch what goes on here on the floor of the House, Mr.…
