Across-the-Board Spending Reductions

ACROSS-THE-BOARD SPENDING REDUCTIONS -- (House of Representatives - September 28, 2005)

(Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, last week I received a call from a constituent, and she said, As you are looking at Hurricane Katrina, I want you to remember something. My grandmother used to say, Mind your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves.

How very true, and in that regard, I filed three bills yesterday, one I think every Member of the House can decide they can support, H.R. 3903, H.R. 3904 and H.R. 3906. Each calls for across-the-board spending reductions in non-defense, non-homeland security discretionary spending.

H.R. 3903 is a 1 percent reduction which would be a $4 billion savings for the year. Two percent is the H.R. 3904 bill. That is an $8 billion savings. $21.5 billion could be saved with H.R. 3906, which is a 5 percent reduction.

One of the things we know, Mr. Speaker, is that across-the-board reductions work. The bureaucrats in buildings are called upon to be responsive to the taxpayers to account for how they are spending every single penny that they are being appropriated.

So I encourage all the Members of the body to join me in cosponsoring H.R. 3903, H.R. 3904 and H.R. 3906 and reduce our Federal outlays.

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