Timothy Roemer: “I rise as a Democrat who has worked very hard for the last 4 years to balance the budget and continue to make that one…”

“I rise as a Democrat who has worked very hard for the last 4 years to balance the budget and continue to make that one of my highest priorities in this body. So oftentimes over the last 4 years, balancing the budget has been like trying to take a sip out of a fire hydrant, you are pushed back every time you think you are making some progress. We have made some progress in the last month. We have passed a constitutional amendment to balance the budget and a line-item veto, both of which I have voted for. But H.R. 7 firmly plants down now additional fire hydrants, opening the gates to spend more money that we do not have and spends this money in ways which is not in the best interests of the taxpayer nor in the best interests of our national defense. Title II of this bill, the strategic defense initiative says, "It shall be the policy of the United States to deploy at the earliest practicable date." Not evaluate, not analyze, deploy and spend the money. That is $29 to $30 billion, $10 billion more than we currently have in this bill. Where are we getting that $10 billion? Where did it say in the Contract for America to spend $10 billion that you did not have?”