Mark Neumann: “last week we passed a budget that allows the deficit to go back up again. I heard lots of people talk about why that is…”

“last week we passed a budget that allows the deficit to go back up again. I heard lots of people talk about why that is wrong and why we should not be doing that. Here is an opportunity to fix the problem. We are going to bring an amendment like this with each one of the remaining appropriation bills. Let us fix the problem. Here is our chance. Why is the deficit going back up? Because we spent $15 billion in discretionary spending that we were not supposed to spend. Let me put that in English. This Congress, the House of Representatives, literally controls about one-third of the budget. It is called discretionary spending. It is in that part of the budget that we have problems right now. It is in that part of the budget, that is why the deficit went up. That is why we need to correct it in this manner. Mr. Chairman, this amendment is about 1.9 percent. Listen to the cries we are hearing here on the floor: It is going to hurt this or that or the next thing. Is there anyone outside the city of Washington, DC, that honestly believes there is not 1.9 percent of waste in every Government program? I guarantee Members, standing here today, that there is more than 1.9 cents out of every dollar in wasteful Government spending in this bill that could be cut out without hurting the national parks and without hurting the things that are so near and dear to this country.”