Mark Neumann: “I, too, have the greatest respect for President Bush and his commitment to our great country and the many efforts that…”

“I, too, have the greatest respect for President Bush and his commitment to our great country and the many efforts that he and his family have put in for the good of the future of America. President Bush paid a huge price to do what he believed was in the best interests of the future of our country, and paid that price in order to move this Nation closer to a balanced budget. Now we stand here today talking about spending money on his behalf, and I could not agree with my colleague from Michigan more, that the appropriate way to honor President Bush and his family today is by defeating this particular bill and helping this Nation move closer to a balanced budget. We are currently $5.2 trillion in debt, $5.2 trillion, $20,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States of America. This is a wonderful program; it is a wonderful idea. The problem that we have with it is we cannot afford it. There are many wonderful ideas out there; the bottom line is we have got to ask ourselves whether or not we can afford the ideas. We currently have 760 educational programs federally funded. The U.S. Federal Government has 760 different educational programs. Why would we want to go today and add another program to that list?”