On the recordSeptember 22, 2011
I reclaim my time. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in support of this continuing resolution. This CR is vital to keeping our government operating over the next 7 weeks while Congress completes its work on next year's budget. It's worth reminding Members that tonight this CR actually reduces spending from last year's enacted levels and saves taxpayers billions of dollars. The irony is that voting against this CR is actually a vote for more spending. If you want to reduce government spending, then you should vote for this CR. It's pretty simple, really. FEMA's coffers for disaster assistance are about to run dry. There is no such thing as a Republican natural disaster or a Democrat natural disaster. The last thing Congress should do is hold up disaster assistance because of partisan politics. We need to approve this CR tonight and get the relief to those in need as quickly as humanly possible. Now, I've got to tell you, in all honestly, I'm not one of those people who believes that we have to offset every emergency. We have done some in the past--some we have not--but in the past, we have not had a $14 trillion deficit. That's the danger to this country is the $14 trillion deficit and the $1.6 trillion we add to it every damned year. I've got to admit, this is only $1 billion. But do you know what? Some people say, Oh, that's only $1 billion. I heard one Member say yesterday it was nickels and dimes. In Idaho, $1 billion is not nickels and dimes.…
