On the recordJune 27, 2012
I commend the gentlewoman from Tennessee for her persistence and for all of her work as far as trying to get a handle on the spending. I would just like to make a couple of points. She mentioned that we're $2 billion below the President's request. We're actually almost $4 billion below last year's spending in this bill. We have the largest decrease, percentage-wise, of any of the appropriation bills. We have worked very hard to craft a bill that actually enacted those types of spending cuts but also funded the high- priority items that are in this bill. It's with reluctance I oppose her amendment. I will just say that we're within the 302(b) allocations that were in the Ryan budget. That was really the debate then as to what funding levels to be at. There are some very important infrastructure issues that would be harmed by this when we look at the highway trust fund funding that would be cut. Of course, that would also include transit programs, veterans homeless vouchers. We have done everything we could to try to have a balanced bill that actually created priorities after having many hearings and working through this bill on a line-by-line basis. I'm not sure that an across-the-board cut that cuts everything arbitrarily is the way to go. Certainly, we're all very concerned about the budget, but with reluctance, I oppose this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I am glad to yield some time to the gentlelady.
