Dawn Zimmer: “I do agree it would have been an excellent idea to have enacted the lockbox earlier. In fact, it would have been an…”

“I do agree it would have been an excellent idea to have enacted the lockbox earlier. In fact, it would have been an excellent idea to have enacted the lockbox shortly after the gentleman from Idaho introduced the legislation along with the gentlewoman from California in the 103d Congress. Think of all the money we could have saved if it had been passed under the previous majority. But, fortunately, we have today for the first time a meaningful lockbox amendment before us, and it will establish that the budget allocations that we so solemnly adopt each year will be not floors, but ceilings. It will make it clear that we can reduce spending below those allocations and have those spending cuts stick. Budget cuts can go straight to deficit reduction, so we can reduce the amount we add to the national debt every single day until that blessed day when we finally reach a balanced budget. Those of us who have been fighting to cut the budget over the years have felt sometimes like Sisyphus, the mythical character who would roll a rock up a hill only to see it roll back down again.”