Gilbert Gutknecht: “Mr. Chairman, as one of my favorite presidents observed, well, here we go again. This is the 1.9 percent…”

“Mr. Chairman, as one of my favorite presidents observed, well, here we go again. This is the 1.9 percent across-the-board reduction. Just to set the stage again so Members understand how this amendment came about, we were rightly criticized by some of our friends on the other side of the aisle when we passed the joint budget resolution conference committee report, in which we increased discretionary spending by about $4.1 billion more than the House-passed version of this budget resolution. Passing a balanced budget, ultimately balancing the people's books, is not some mean-spirited, green eye-shaded accounting exercise. It really is about preserving the American dream for our children. Balancing the budget is not something that we do next year or we do 2 years from now or we do 3 years from now or 6 years from now. It is what we do every day on every appropriation bill that makes the difference, and that is why in good faith I am offering this amendment.”