Marsha Blackburn: “First of all, I want to begin by thanking the committee for their hard work on this appropriations bill. Every year, I…”

“First of all, I want to begin by thanking the committee for their hard work on this appropriations bill. Every year, I come to this floor through the appropriations process to present amendments calling for 1 percent across-the-board cuts. So many years I have come down here to talk about how the spending continues to increase. Indeed, our budget does increase. But I have to tell you, the chairman and his team have done an incredible job this year. The outlays that we see in this bill this year are $209 million-- think about that--less than the budget authority from last year. That is significant, and it should be recognized and should be praised, because that is the type of work that we need to see. Now, I do continue to present the 1 percent across-the-board amendment because we are facing a time in our Nation where 1 percent makes a difference, just as we are seeing from the good work that they have done. Passing this amendment for the 1 percent across-the-board spending reduction would save us an additional $376 million. It is important to do because our Nation is facing $20 trillion in debt. Because of that, we have to ask ourselves: Is it important to spend some of the money that is being spent on programs that we see taking place in the Department of Energy? It causes us to look at these programs and talk about priorities, where we should spend those precious dollars that are not Federal dollars.…”