William Clinger: “We have a guarantee you get a vote. There is no such guarantee in the gentleman's amendment, because it could be waived.”

In fact, the offsets can come, when this happens, if the President decides to waive it now, he, under this bill, would be required to provide the offset. We could make it very clear that they were not to be taken out of military spending…

As I indicated, this would also go into effect if the President would agree to the balanced-budget agreement.

The gentlewoman makes a very, very strong point. This is one way that we can help preserve the industrial base. If we see that shrink dramatically, it would, in fact, jeopardize us in the event we have hostilities somewhere else in the…

But it does not have to be Defense Department. Mandatory spending is all across the board.