Hal Rogers: “I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to bring to the floor today H.R. 1473, the full…”

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to bring to the floor today H.R. 1473, the full year spending agreement for fiscal year 2011. This final CR makes nearly $40 billion of real spending cuts compared to fiscal year 2010 levels while funding the government's critical services and programs and supporting our Nation's troops for the rest of this fiscal year. After weeks of hard fought negotiations, all sides were able to come together in this final agreement to find common ground and take steps to help balance our budget. This legislation is a bold move for Congress, one that points us in the right direction on Federal spending. Never before has any Congress made dramatic cuts such as these that are in this final bill. The near $40 billion reduction in non-defense spending is tens of billions of dollars larger than any other cut in history and is the result of this new Republican majority's commitment to bring about real change in the way Washington spends the people's money. My committee went line-by-line through agency budgets to execute the agreement reached by our Speaker crafting deep but responsible reductions in virtually all areas of government. Our bill targets wasteful and duplicative spending, makes strides to rein in out-of- control Federal bureaucracies, and will help bring our Nation one step closer to eliminating our job-crushing level of debt.…”