Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, H. Con. Res. 44 provides for an annual joint hearing of the House and Senate Budget Committees to hear a presentation by the Comptroller General of the United States reviewing the findings of the audited financial statement of the Federal Government. I serve both on the House Budget and the House Rules Committees, and I am an original cosponsor of this legislation. It is long past time for the congressional Budget Committees to hear from the Comptroller General, who is the head of the Government Accountability Office. This should be done on an annual basis about the fiscal state of our Nation. We already hear annually from the executive branch through the head of the Office of Management and Budget. To complement this information, we should also hear an unvarnished, nonpolitical perspective from the head of Congress' legislative support agency about the many factors contributing to the Nation's debt and deficit in order to develop sound fiscal policies and meet our long-term debt and deficit reduction goals. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of a spending crisis, with well over $1 trillion in taxpayer money spent largely on partisan priorities, and the bad news is there is more on the way. The financial effect of this spending on the Federal Government's balance sheet may not be fully realized for several years.…”