On the recordFebruary 15, 2011
I rise in support of the rule and the continuing resolution. Mr. Speaker, we would not be in this position this afternoon if the leadership of the last Congress let the Appropriations Committee do its work last year, to act on the President's budget proposal when it came out, to debate our bills in full committee, to debate our bills on the floor. So that is why we are here today. It would have been great if last year's House leadership had actually listened to the American people. We would not be in this situation if the President and the congressional leadership hadn't borrowed billions of dollars, mortgaging our future, to spend on multiple stimulus bills and bailouts that did little to create private-sector jobs and restore consumer confidence. The Department of Energy alone had $39 billion in stimulus money, all, I might say, borrowed--$9 billion more than its entire budget. It was a recipe for waste, a scatter gun approach that raised many public expectations but in the end provided few achievements and fewer yet jobs.
