Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, we are facing a very important vote again here. In fact, it is the last opportunity the House will have for deficit reduction this year. Because of the nature of the rules of this House, as many of my colleagues know, if we cut spending out of discretionary spending later in the year, those cuts do not reduce the deficit. So this is the last opportunity, the last train leaving the station in order to reduce the deficit, in order to cut Federal spending. This motion I am offering, but also working in concert with the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Penny] and the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Stenholm]. This proposal, which endeavors to cut defense, which has been voted on already in the Senate, which has passed the Senate, imposes another $26 billion in deficit reduction. It would be the first additional deficit reduction proposal that would be enacted since the President raised taxes in this Congress. Madam Speaker, what we do is we are asking the House conferees to cut this spending by $26 billion over 5 years. That represents 0.3 percent of Federal spending over the next 5 years.”