Mike Conaway: “during this process of the debate over the last several hours, Member after Member on our side have come to the aisle…”

“during this process of the debate over the last several hours, Member after Member on our side have come to the aisle and proposed amendments that would reduce spending off of this appropriations bill. They do it in good faith but the truth of the matter is, were any of those to pass and should any of those pass subsequent to the actual recorded votes, that money actually stays within the jurisdiction of the committee and gets spent somewhere else. What my amendment would do is say that if we were able to succeed on one of the amendments that reduces spending or cuts spending, that that money instead of going back into the committee of jurisdiction pool or subcommittee of jurisdiction pool would actually go against the deficit. And should it be an unusual occurrence in the future with a surplus circumstance, that money would simply increase the surplus. This is straightforward, no tricks, no gimmicks. It is just simply if the cuts are successful, that money actually does not get spent.”