David Thomas: “I guess one of the things we could do is run an auction on bills like this in which each provision goes to the highest…”

“I guess one of the things we could do is run an auction on bills like this in which each provision goes to the highest bidder. If that is the case, our friends on the other side of the aisle would win every time, that is, as long as we were using Monopoly money. But if we were using real money in terms of having to pay for what it is that we say we are offering to the American people, then the proposal that came out of our committees that we have just finished discussing fits within the budget that this House passed. The program that was partially outlined by the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin) adds up to about $70 billion over 10 years. There is no money provided for it. The gentleman got up after virtually every speaker and talked about an unfunded mandate. What the gentleman will not talk about is the fact that they have over a billion dollars imposed upon States in their proposal requiring States to meet an inflation number in the States. That produces a mandate on the States of more than a billion dollars.”