On the recordApril 8, 2011
I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we come here tonight just moments before the government is forced to close its doors with very good news. We have an agreement with the Senate and the White House to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, while providing critical resources for our national defense. In addition, when this agreement is signed into law, we will have taken the unprecedented step of passing the largest non-defense spending cut in the history of the Nation, tens of billions of dollars larger than any other non-defense reduction. This remarkable achievement is the result of hard-fought negotiations that required all sides to come together to find common ground. The American people need and deserve to have a functioning government, but they also deserve a government that spends its taxpayer dollars responsibly, a government that won't saddle their children and grandchildren with unsustainable and reckless debt. Our constituents have sent us the message that the standard tax-and- spend culture in Washington is no longer acceptable. It has been the goal of this new Republican majority to keep precious tax dollars where they are needed most, in the hands of businesses and individuals across the Nation so that they can create jobs and grow our economy. This agreement will mark the end of a budget process that should have been completed almost a year ago by the previous Congress.…
