Marsha Blackburn: “I would remind my colleague across the aisle that it was individuals from his party over in the Senate that chose not to…”

“I would remind my colleague across the aisle that it was individuals from his party over in the Senate that chose not to handle the Zika funding last week. That is very unfortunate. Zika is something that is going to be such a challenge for families and individuals during our time, and I find those actions to be most unfortunate. Another thing that I would like to say, not to see the purpose in spending reductions, we have $19 trillion worth of debt. If we are going to spend over $3 trillion this year, you want to tell me that we don't need to be making some spending reductions? There is $21.7 billion worth of spending here, so the Appropriations Committee is appropriating money. Many times it is money we don't have. It is money taxpayers do not have in their pockets. And we have children and grandchildren today who are paying for programs that they do not want, programs that we do not need, that have outlived their usefulness, programs that could be more efficient with utilization of new technologies. Should we be reducing what we spend and right-sizing government and getting Federal agencies off the back and out of the pocketbook of the American taxpayer? You better believe we ought to be doing that. And if it means another penny out of a dollar, absolutely, absolutely, make another reduction. Challenge employees to come to the table with their best ideas. It is the way Governors do it, the way mayors do it. It is the way this House should do it.…”