Paul Ryan: “I congratulate Chairman Obey, Leader Boehner, and Mr. Lewis for bringing a bill to the floor that provides funding for…”

“I congratulate Chairman Obey, Leader Boehner, and Mr. Lewis for bringing a bill to the floor that provides funding for our troops without restrictions on our commanders. My hometown is under water, and I am glad this bill provides funding to address flooding and to help the victims whose lives have been turned upside down by this flood. Likewise I am glad that this bill provides assistance to those facing unemployment since one of the largest employers in my district--GM-- recently announced it is closing a production facility. However, this bill is part of a very disturbing trend in how we budget and legislate--Omnibus appropriation bills. We are now resorting to two omnibus appropriations bills a year. We need to find a way to budget for emergencies, but my problem with this bill is not with the unemployment extension funding or the flood funding. These are temporary costs that have been included in emergency supplementals in the past. My concern is with the permanent expansion in an entitlement program that we are adding to an emergency supplemental appropriations bill. Mandatory spending doesn't belong on an appropriations bill because mandatory spending is forever. An expansion in GI benefits is a good idea. However, we have an increasingly bad habit of just adding spending on top of the $3 trillion we are currently spending annually. I congratulate the Blue Dogs for initially objecting to the fact that the GI benefits in this bill were not offset.”