Gilbert Gutknecht: “Mr. Chairman, essentially we are talking about two pennies, two pennies out of every dollar allocated to Federal…”

“Mr. Chairman, essentially we are talking about two pennies, two pennies out of every dollar allocated to Federal spending that can keep us from increasing this deficit. Is it too much to expect Washington to live within its means? Is it extreme to expect Washington to balance the people's budget? Millions of hard-working American families are forced to balance their budgets every month. We are talking about balancing the budget in 7 years. We are talking about cutting domestic discretionary spending by 1.9 percent, simply 1.9 percent, so that we can get back on that path that we said we would stay on. We promised that we would go on a diet but now we are saying, well, we are going to have one more milkshake. I do respect what the committees have done, as the chairman says, and I believe he is speaking in good faith that we have cut this budget down to the bone, but frankly, Mr. Chairman, we are going to have to cut even further as we go along toward that 2002 goal. So if we are down to the bone now, how will we ever possibly balance the people's books? This is not about a mean-spirited accounting exercise. I am not trying to demagogue this issue. What I am really saying on behalf of the children of America is that we have got to make the tough choices, we have got to eliminate more of the waste in the Federal Government, we have got to cut Federal spending.”