Marsha Blackburn: “I want to begin by thanking the committee for the excellent job that they have done under Chairman Calvert's leadership…”

“I want to begin by thanking the committee for the excellent job that they have done under Chairman Calvert's leadership with bringing this appropriations bill in under budget. It is $3 billion below the President's request. There is still $30.17 billion in proposed funding in this bill. I come before you today to offer an amendment that I regularly offer to these appropriations bills, which is a 1 percent across-the-board spending cut. Let's go in and let's take one more penny out of every dollar and use that to bolster the good work that our committee has done. You know, one of the things that I like about this bill is there is a 9 percent reduction in the EPA budget compared to last year. We all know we need to rein in the EPA. We are all for clean air, clean water, clean environment. We have different ways of getting there. The burdensome regulations that are out there negatively impact--they negatively impact our communities. But we know there is more work that we have to do on this $30 billion budget. My amendment would reduce the discretionary budget authority by $292 million and would reduce outlays by $193 million. Now, I know that this is not a popular amendment with a lot of those who feel like we have cut, cut, cut and we can't cut any more. I disagree with that. I think that you can look at the GAO reports and the inspector general reports and see there is plenty of room to cut.…”