Glenn Grothman: “I am going to disagree a little bit with one of those past statements. We have heard the statement made, sometimes…”

“I am going to disagree a little bit with one of those past statements. We have heard the statement made, sometimes behind closed doors by a lot of people, and that is we have an increase of discretionary spending over the last 3 years. This is a mild cut this year, but over the last 3 years, collectively, it is an increase, 3 or 4 years. There are some people who feel that we shouldn't scrutinize that spending because so much of our budget is mandatory spending. I do feel that we need a larger cut in mandatory spending than the rather modest cut that came out of the Budget Committee, and I hope everybody in our Conference will demand a more significant cut in mandatory spending. But, nevertheless, discretionary spending is 30 percent of the budget. Common sense will tell you that, as things become more technology oriented, it should be easier for an agency that processes data, like the ATF, to do their business with a little bit less money. And one more time I will emphasize that there haven't been cuts to reflect these scandals in the ATF, and I think that, if we are not going to kind of slap them on the wrist now, when will we? Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.”