Mark Neumann: “That is very true, and I brought another chart with me. This is somewhat surprising to many of the American people. They…”

“That is very true, and I brought another chart with me. This is somewhat surprising to many of the American people. They have heard so much about these draconian cuts that are being made here in Washington, DC, that when I show them this chart, it kind of is staggering, in fact, of what is actually still happening here in Washington. Before the Republicans took over in 1995, spending was going up at a rate of 5.2 percent on an average basis for the last 7 years. Remember, inflation is now at around 3 percent or 2 rac{1}{2} percent. So it was going up at almost twice the rate of inflation. Since the Republicans took over, there has been about a 40-percent reduction in the growth of spending. But is spending still going up? Yes, Government spending is still going up, and the blue shows the first 7 years of the Republican control. It is still going up at 3.2 percent. So have we completely curtailed or cut Government spending? We have not cut Government spending. We have curtailed the growth of Government spending. Government spending is not going up as rapidly as it was before. But when we have this discussion about can we still find many areas of Government that are not efficient, where we are wasting or not spending money as wisely as we could? I think the answer is very, very clear. We still have Government spending going up faster than the rate of inflation.”