Bob Wise: “I know of what the gentleman speaks in the sense that many have expressed concern about the experience of New York City…”

“I know of what the gentleman speaks in the sense that many have expressed concern about the experience of New York City back in the early 1970's. I am not aware of any great problems arising out of capital expenditure in my own State. For instance, we have a debt ceiling that we cannot go above in the sense of how much we can bond, how much we can borrow, and I think the tightest control on that is the implementing legislation that must be passed. The converse to what the gentleman from Texas is suggesting is not to have capital budgeting, is to count $1 of investment the same as we do $1 of consumption, and thus we are not able to develop and not able to grow, and indeed, we are not able to make those investments to develop our own economy. ... But are people aware that we are spending, in relation to our GDP by percentage amount, by one-half of what we were spending only 25 years ago, and so what has happened is that capital investment, that which would help us grow, has been squeezed down as we see mounting consumption or operating income rise? That is once again reflecting the need for a capital budget similar to what it is my understanding just about every State has.”