Tim Walz: “You'll get no argument in this House that this is a country that has to get a handle on our budget, be fiscally…”

“You'll get no argument in this House that this is a country that has to get a handle on our budget, be fiscally responsible, reduce our national debt, and grow the economy. We owe nothing less to our children and grandchildren. But I will be honest, I am pretty shocked by the lack of business sense, if you will, from some of my Republican colleagues. What my small businesses know in southern Minnesota is that, in addition to tightening their belts and getting efficiencies out of their businesses, they have to make smart investments for tomorrow. So last week what did we do? We cut 41 percent of the NIH budget for research at the Mayo Clinic in my district that will lay off 68 researchers who equate into billions of dollars of medical research. Republicans also want to cut funding for education. As a high school teacher I can tell you, where are the workers of tomorrow going to come from, and how are they going to compete to be the great innovators to win tomorrow? We did all of that, at the same time protecting oil subsidies to the CEOs of the largest oil companies who made hundreds of billions. We have to be smart with taxpayer dollars, and we have to find ways to think like small, innovative businesses in places like the Mayo Clinic. Save money, be efficient with our resources, invest in tomorrow to create jobs.”