Reid Ribble: “We are now drawing close to a government shutdown. I have been sitting over here, listening to my colleagues from both…”

“We are now drawing close to a government shutdown. I have been sitting over here, listening to my colleagues from both sides speak this morning. I want everyone to know; I want the American people to know, and I want the folks in northeast Wisconsin to know that this is not about riders or extreme partisan ideology. It is about spending. I will tell you that I am surprised at some of the language. A moment ago, one of my colleagues said we wanted to take a chain saw to spending. A few days ago, the President said we wanted to use an ax to cut spending. I will tell you that it's more like a butter knife. We spent in March of this year alone $189 billion in deficit. Our CR would have cut $8 billion. So instead of $189 billion, we would have spent $181 billion in deficit. That is not a chain saw. That is not an ax. Some Americans have been calling me from home, saying it's not even serious. It is time that this Congress takes our fiscal situation seriously for the protection of our country, for the protection of our programs, for the protection of our seniors. It is time for this Congress to act and to act now. Yesterday, we offered up a plan to fund our troops at the request of Secretary Gates, and we've been turned down once again. I call on my colleagues not to wait another day, another hour, another minute.…”