Glenn Grothman: “This is a series of amendments we have seen, as we go throughout the budget process, asking for an across-the-board cut.…”

“This is a series of amendments we have seen, as we go throughout the budget process, asking for an across-the-board cut. Right now, we are borrowing 18 or 19 percent of our budget, which is just beyond belief. The speaker before me talked about financial literacy. We need some financial literacy for the Congress here. My colleagues cannot continue to put out budgets in which they are borrowing 18, 19 percent of the money. In the Financial Services and General Government appropriations, we have a 5.1 percent increase. In a sane world, we would have a 5.1 percent decrease. But I know who I am dealing with, and I want my amendment to pass, so we are only going to shave 3.1 percent off the 5.1 percent, which still leaves a mammoth 2 percent increase, not quite as irresponsible as what the Appropriations Committee came up with. Sometimes, we are criticized for coming up with these across-the- board cuts, and I can understand the criticism in that it should be more nuanced. We ought to get rid of some programs altogether, and maybe some programs genuinely need an increase. If we are ever going to do what's necessary around here--my experience is, politically, people back home are willing to take a cut. Again, this is a 2 percent increase. They are willing to take a cut if everybody takes the cut and if they don't feel like we are targeting their program.…”