Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, I know that we have a lot of activity on the House floor tonight, which I think is a good thing. It shows that the people's House is here, that we are working, and that we are meeting the needs of the American people. One of those is making certain that we fund the activity of this government, and that we do it in a responsible way.

I think that as I come to offer my amendment, that I offer every single year, on this piece of legislation, Mr. Chairman, it is very important to note that this Appropriations Committee has done a phenomenal job of reining in out-of-control spending.

One of the lessons that should have been learned over the past couple of years is that it is very clear the American people understand that Washington does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.
As I said, Washington does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

We know that the bureaucracy has an insatiable appetite for the taxpayers' money. We see it all of the time. It is why we are having a vote to raise the debt ceiling. It is why we are right at $20 trillion in debt. It is because the spending is, indeed, out of control.

The work that has been done by this committee to prepare these appropriations bills is so vitally important, and it is to be commended. I think we have to look at this Interior Appropriations bill and realize that last year it was a $32.28 billion bill. This year, they have worked that spending down to $31.4 billion, and that is, indeed, commendable. In this bill, they have cut the spending at the EPA a total of 27 percent, and that is, indeed, commendable.

The amendment that I bring forward tonight is to reduce that budget authority by an additional 1 percent. And I do this in calling for a penny-on-a-dollar cut, to challenge the bureaucracy to match the great work that has been done by our colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, as they have worked through to reduce what we spend to cut out waste, to look for fraud, to find ways that the taxpayer dollar is being abused, and to end that abuse.

And, indeed, we know that saving a penny on a dollar is something we can do. It is important to our children and grandchildren. Indeed, I think we have a moral responsibility to do that.

And there are areas where we can do this. I will give you a couple of examples where there is more that we could be doing.

One is in ceiling fan regulations through the EPA. Some of the regulations they have put on ceiling fans, which actually reduce energy consumption, are absolutely ridiculous. We know that they yield a benefit, especially for people that live in areas, like I live in, in Tennessee.

So while we recognize the vital work of the Department of the Interior, we also realize there are areas where more could be done to curb the waste, and where we could challenge the rank and file employees in these bureaucracies.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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