Mr. President, Washington, DC, has an addiction problem. Washington, DC, is addicted to spending. Washington, DC, is addicted to debt. This budget deal takes a giant step backward. Instead of shrinking government, it grows government by 13 percent. In fact, it is the largest spending increase since 2009, the first year President Obama was in office. I spent 28 years in the private sector before I came to Capitol Hill. I was expected to produce a balanced budget. In fact, better than that, I was expected to produce a budget that actually took in a little bit more than was spent. That is called a profit. This budget deal is blowing our budget. It takes discretionary spending up $300 billion and only offsets it by one-third. By looking at numbers, it is pretty clear that Washington, DC, doesn't have a revenue problem if we look at revenue as a percentage of GDP, but if we look at spending as a percentage of GDP, we start to see the real problem. DC doesn't have a revenue problem. DC doesn't need to ask for more money from the American people. Washington, DC, has a spending problem. Controlling government spending is a big challenge, but it is one we have to rise to meet. We must rise to the occasion, not retreat to trillion-dollar deficits. Funding our national defense is a fundamental requirement laid out in the Constitution. The men and women of our military, including our veterans--absolutely crucial.…
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