Steny Hoyer: “this is the dirty secret that Republicans do not want to admit. We did not control spending. That is Chairman Nussle…”

“this is the dirty secret that Republicans do not want to admit. We did not control spending. That is Chairman Nussle, some 15 days ago. The Committee on the Budget says Republicans believe repaying the debt is the right thing to do. It says, in its report dated March 13, 2001, it is wrong for this generation to saddle future generations with debt. It has taken them some less than 2 years to change that view and proceed to create gargantuan debt. And my colleagues, we considered this budget some days ago, and the sun did not set for six times until they came to this floor and for 40 minutes railed against the gentleman's motion to instruct, the motion of the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt). For 40 minutes the Republicans railed against it, and then they voted for it. They voted for it because they knew the cuts that were proposed in that budget were not sustainable, were not supportable. Yet they all voted for it and they flip-flopped 6 days later. How short a memory my colleagues have. My Republican colleagues say they are against debt. The chairman of the Committee on the Budget has gotten up on this floor time after time and said, we need to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. Let me just say that the waste is the time and the paper we have used to consider this resolution, which sadly simply reflects a deep division within the Republican Party reflected by this fiscal irresponsibility. This budget will not be followed. Hear me.…”