Timothy Roemer: “this is a tough choice. This is a very difficult vote. This is a $20 billion problem since I was elected in 1991, and if…”

“this is a tough choice. This is a very difficult vote. This is a $20 billion problem since I was elected in 1991, and if this passes, we will have had $20 billion roughly go for disaster assistance, drought assistance, Midwest flood, L.A. riots, Chicago flood, hurricanes in Florida, Louisiana, and Hawaii. It could be another $20 billion in the next 4 years. So I encourage the Members to carefully consider the importance of this vote. I have worked diligently with the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Penny] and the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Kasich], and I respect them both deeply. I have worked against rules to defeat budgets that I think are over budget, worked against the advanced solid rocket motor, and the space station, and I will continue to do so because we have done much on the deficit, but much much more needs to be done. But I hear my colleagues, when I voted for Penny-Kasich of $90 billion in cuts, say this is the same thing. It is not the same thing. it is not close to the same thing. It is not close to the same thing. This is very different, and it is different in a simple way. Penny-Kasich had a shared sacrifice, a shared benefit for deficit reduction which was good for everybody. This is targeted sacrifice, it is targeted benefit, and it will create other disasters if we set this precedent for policy.”