Paul Ryan: “This piece of legislation weighs about the same amount of weight as my 4-year-old son does. This piece of legislation is…”

“This piece of legislation weighs about the same amount of weight as my 4-year-old son does. This piece of legislation is 3,565 pages. It is 9,200-plus earmarks, 300 of which we just found out about today. This bill costs $515 billion. This bill does a lot for a lot of Federal workers in the holiday season. It makes sure that all those Federal workers working at all the different government agencies have their budget for the year. But what this bill does not do going into this holiday season, it does not give those soldiers in Iraq fighting for our freedom on the frontline of the war on terror, it does not give them one penny. It does not give them 1 minute's worth of comfort so that they have the resources, the tools, the body armor, the bullets, the gasoline, the rations, the support that they need to keep us safe and to fulfill our mission in fighting the war on terror where the epicenter is in Iraq. It is a shame that we spend all of this time putting all of this money, all of this pork for all of these government agencies, making sure that bureaucrats here in Washington are comforted during this Christmas season, but not a penny to support our troops in harm's way in Iraq. That is a shame.”