John Culberson: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs portions of this bill vividly…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs portions of this bill vividly illustrate the importance of passing our appropriations bill as soon as possible. Our war fighters in the field cannot afford to have any air bubbles in the logistical pipeline that supports their operations. Their families, their loved ones cannot afford to have the barracks, the living quarters in which they are housed, be delayed any longer. The Marine Corps urgently needs the Bachelor Enlisted Quarters to get done as fast as possible. The Marines have already had several billion dollars' worth of projects already delayed. As a fiscal conservative, of course I want to see more cuts. I'm committed, as our chairman is, as our Speaker is, to balancing the budget as fast as humanly possible. But this is simply the first step in a long war to get us back onto a balanced budget, to restrain Federal spending. We've dramatically reduced, with the chairman's leadership and the Speaker's leadership, the national credit card limit by $38 billion, the largest non-wartime cut in the history of the United States after the drawdown after World War II. We've actually seen reductions for the first time, Madam Speaker, in this bill.…”