Tom Price: “I was compelled to come and talk just a little bit about this amendment, which I commend my friend from Texas for…”

“I was compelled to come and talk just a little bit about this amendment, which I commend my friend from Texas for offering, because I've been surprised at the rapidity with which the new majority has regained their old stripes that they lost 12-plus years ago. We were sitting in committee the other day and marking or finishing the prospects of a bill that we're passing out of the Education Committee, and it turns out that there was more estimated revenue that came into the Federal Government and was eligible for appropriation by the committee. And so the majority party, within very short order, stated that they had found hundreds of millions of new dollars and they were offering an amendment to recognize that, in fact, they had found hundreds of millions of new dollars; and then, within seconds, appropriated or authorized the spending of the hundreds of millions of new dollars. So I was somewhat bemused by that and made the comment at the time that I was pleased that they had found the hundreds of millions of new dollars; I was somewhat surprised that they had spent it so rapidly. And so I would draw your attention, Mr. Chairman, to the fact that an issue, a process by which the Federal Government has been utilizing to save hundreds of millions of dollars and, yes, billions of dollars, as stated by the gentleman from Texas, that of providing for competitive bidding, is an appropriate process.”