On the recordFebruary 24, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding time. This is my eighth year in service on the House Budget Committee. For the last 7 years, every year, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget has come to the House Budget Committee and has presented the budget of the President of the United States--the President of the United States, who has been duly elected by the people of this country for two terms. Now the House Budget Committee decides that it wants to break 40 years of tradition and not allow the administration to present the President's budget to not just the committee, but also to the country. This isn't just unprecedented, this is disrespectful to the members of the committee and the Members of this House. It is certainly disrespectful to our President and the office of the Presidency. And above all, it is disrespectful to the American people who expect their elected leaders to at least review the budget of the President they elected. As I have said before, the American people have elected President Obama twice. They did it for a reason. One of the reasons was that we were facing one of the greatest financial crises in the history of this country. The record since President Obama has taken office is pretty good. During his time in office, he has overseen one of the most monumental recoveries in our Nation's history. Consider some of the things that have happened over the past two terms of the Obama administration.…





