Jim Banks: “It is long past time that we get serious about putting our fiscal house in order. This division costs nearly $74…”

“It is long past time that we get serious about putting our fiscal house in order. This division costs nearly $74 billion, which is an increase of nearly $10 billion from the fiscal year 2019 enacted level. My amendment is simple. It cuts spending in this division by 14 percent, while exempting amounts made available to the Department of Defense. This reduction would bring the nondefense spending in this division down to the level required to avoid busting the budget caps and avert triggering a sequestration, which harms our national defense. Unfortunately, the spending package that we have before us continues to propel us down the path of reckless spending that brought us to having a national debt of $22 trillion. With these minibus packages, my friends on the other side of the aisle are proposing to bust the budget caps by nearly $90 billion when all is said and done. This will force dangerous cuts to our national defense through sequestration, and that is wholly unacceptable to me and my constituents in northeast Indiana. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.”