Political Quotes

“The Energy and Water Development appropriations bill before us today includes $30.6 billion in funding. That falls $1 billion below last year's level and $5.9 billion beneath the President's budget request. While I applaud our appropriators for the great work they've done in reducing this spending, I am one of those Members of the House who believes there is still room for improvement. We are in an extraordinary time when it comes to our budget and when it comes to the budget of this Nation in the spending, and this extraordinary time does require some extraordinary measures. That's why I am introducing a 5 percent across-the-board spending reduction amendment. This amendment has the backing of 10 national conservative groups. This amendment would reduce the funding appropriated by this bill by an additional $1.5 billion and would take Federal spending back to just above the fiscal year 2007 level. Across-the-board spending cuts effectively control the growth and the cost of the Federal Government. They give agencies the flexibility to determine which expenses are necessary and which are not. In fact, in my State of Tennessee, as I have mentioned many times as we have debated these across-the-board amendments--and Mr. Chairman, I know many of my colleagues are probably a little bit tired of hearing of these across-the-board spending cuts--we bring them forward because the States have used them, and they've used them successfully.…”