David Thomas: “I am supporting House Resolution 89 today because it is vital that the President submit a true balanced budget proposal…”

“I am supporting House Resolution 89 today because it is vital that the President submit a true balanced budget proposal so that serious bipartisan talks on balancing the budget can begin. Unless both the President and Congress are willing to confront the hard choices a balanced budget requires, we cannot succeed. The burden of starting the process rests squarely on the President. The truth is that there are no gimmicks, no sleight-of-hand tricks or silver bullets to magically make the Federal budget balance. We have to cut spending and change programs to spending cuts work. We cannot flip-flop, reversing our course depending on how close we are to an election. Republicans offered the President clear examples of the hard choices that need to be made when we offered our Balanced Budget Act of 1995--much of which the President would later sign into law. For a true bipartisan effort, we need the President's budget to show where he and his party are willing to make hard choices now. The President's February budget does not do the job.”