Ernest Istook: “what we do in our everyday lives as families, we sit around the kitchen table and we say, this is how much we have, and…”

“what we do in our everyday lives as families, we sit around the kitchen table and we say, this is how much we have, and this is what we would like to accomplish. And we make decisions, tough decisions. I would like for every Member of this House to help us in making these difficult decisions. We did not know we were going to have the attacks of 9/11. We did not know we were going to be looking at another war on the other side of the globe. We did not know that we would have the economic problems that have surfaced, and yet we are trying to do our best. But some Members, their only answer is whatever we are doing is not good enough, because the only answer is to spend more money. That is not always the answer. Mr. Speaker, we have got to have people who take a constructive look at things rather than being naysayers. We have got to have people who say, look, this is where we will have to cut back if we want to get back to a balanced budget instead of having deficits return and continue; if we want to make sure we follow the policy that the majority in this House has done for the last several years, balancing the budget without using Social Security receipts to do so. We have increased in recent years education spending some 150 percent since the majority changed in this body. Yet some people accuse us of not being sensitive toward education. That is just not so.”