David Minge: “I would like to support the amendment that has been offered. What we have here is a commonsense proposal. There is…”

“I would like to support the amendment that has been offered. What we have here is a commonsense proposal. There is concern that common sense if applied to the defense budget might result in some untoward conclusion. Certainly we ought to let this proceed as proposed. If indeed there is something that the Defense Department has not been able to justify that is in the bill, that should be justified, I suggest that there is ample opportunity in the conference committee process or in the Senate for the Defense Department to identify this. But it certainly does not make sense for the United States House of Representatives to be appropriating billions of dollars or millions of dollars, whatever it may be, for military expenditures that the Defense Department has not said are necessary. I cannot overemphasize this. Here we are, one day after we have passed a budget resolution which increases the Federal deficit from the fiscal 1996 to the fiscal 1997 years. This is an amazing result, that the majority in this body would increase the deficit when we are trying to eliminate the deficit. This amendment is but one humble way to try to achieve that conclusion.”