Jim Baird: “Mr. Chairman, I rise today with very serious concerns about this legislation. Despite all of the rhetoric about being…”

“Mr. Chairman, I rise today with very serious concerns about this legislation. Despite all of the rhetoric about being tough on crime, this bill cuts the program to put 100,000 police officers on the street by $1 billion. Despite all of the rhetoric by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle just last night about needing stronger science before instituting new regulations, this bill would make extensive cuts in science and technology programs. Despite our nearly unanimous claims that we support small business, this bill cuts SBA funding to a level that could lead to the elimination of up to 75 percent of current staff. And, here is the topper. Despite 200 years of advance warning on the need for conducting a census next year, this bill designates the decennial census as 'emergency spending.' It does all of this at a time when Members of this body are finalizing a package of tax cuts totaling $792 billion that the people do not think is needed, when they think we really ought to be working on balancing the budget and reducing the debt. Mr. Chairman, this is a cynical, desperate approach to continue this appearance of this Congress is balancing its budget by staying in the caps while in reality, spending the surplus on tax breaks.”