Chellie Pingree: “I strongly oppose this amendment. I appreciate the thoughts of the gentleman, but this is the wrong place to go about…”

“I strongly oppose this amendment. I appreciate the thoughts of the gentleman, but this is the wrong place to go about it. This amendment just indiscriminately cuts programs in this bill without any thought to the relative merit of the programs contained in the bill. For instance, this cut would result in fewer patients seen at the Indian Health Service, fewer safety inspectors ensuring accidents do not occur, deferred maintenance on our Nation's water and sanitation infrastructure. More generally, investments in our environmental infrastructure and our public lands will be halted and the associated jobs will be lost. This amendment would not encourage the agencies to do more with less. Simply put, it would force the agencies and our constituents to do less with less. Yes, it is true the Interior budget does not meet the same numbers that the President sent over to us, but the President cut the Environmental Protection Agency by a third, he cut the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities. I can make a very long list that the President cut that this Congress would never stand for. So this does not stand. We cannot go back to the President's original budget. We must stand together to oppose this amendment, which if it was passed, would harm the American people. Mr. Chair, I oppose this amendment and encourage my colleagues to join me in opposing it, and I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR.…”