John Spratt: “Mr. Chairman, when I opened this argument I noted to the House that the budget resolution before us is a product of…”

“Mr. Chairman, when I opened this argument I noted to the House that the budget resolution before us is a product of nearly 3 months of negotiation. This is a hard wrought agreement, and I speak to my colleagues, in particular on this side of the aisle, Democrats, when I say that in this agreement there are a number of initiatives which we could not have accomplished on our own as the minority party in this House and in this Congress, hard wrought concessions that make this an agreement that is a balanced plan to balance the budget over the next 5 years. The Shuster-Oberstar amendment will undercut some of the gains that we have made, some of the priorities that we have protected, some of the things that we were able to put into this budget agreement that gives it a stamp that is peculiar and particular to our party and our constituents and what we believe in. Basically the Shuster amendment seeks to add $11 to $12 billion in outlays. To achieve that much in outlays we need about $19 billion in budget authority. So we are not talking about small change or minor skimming cuts. We are talking about deep and disruptive cuts here.”