Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020
Floor Speech
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Mr. BANKS. Mr. Chairman, here we go again. Another bloated spending deal that doesn't just bust the spending caps but spends more than ever before on this division. With a $22 trillion national debt, you would think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would show a little restraint.
My friends on the other side of the aisle, who I have enormous respect for, including the chairman, are proposing to spend $137.1 billion in this division alone, which is $6 billion more than last year's enacted level.
Mr. Chairman, we simply can't continue to go down this path. While both parties have contributed to Washington's $22 trillion national debt, my colleagues are recklessly proposing to bust the budget caps, trigger sequestration, and continue to mortgage our children's future. At some point, we have got to do something to confront this town's spending addiction.
I acknowledge that reducing our national debt is a daunting challenge, and I am prepared to debate today how to best accomplish the goal of a balanced budget. But my friends on the other side of the aisle do not even want to have that discussion.
Hoosier families in my district have these tough talks every day around their kitchen table. Why can't Washington, D.C., do the same?
With these spending packages threatening to bust the budget caps and initiate sequestration, there appears to be an indifference from my Democrat colleagues as to the severe harm that this poses to our national security.
I will not be silent about this, Mr. Chairman. This is my seventh time coming to this microphone offering the same amendment in the last couple of weeks alone. I am looking forward to having a substantive debate today about this particular amendment.
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Mr. BANKS. Mr. Chairman, a very wise former Governor of Indiana once said that you will never know how much government you will never miss. And these days, as we roll out spending package after spending package that spends more and more than ever spent before, I look back to those wise words of that former governor, because that former Governor, knew, just as I do, as a former State Legislator, that the States can always run these programs and do better with running government, administering programs like these than the Federal Government ever can.
And while there is a difference of opinion between my colleague, again, who I respect and admire so much, it is clear that there is a difference of opinion between those who believe that Washington, D.C., should tax more hard-earned tax dollars out of the pockets of hardworking Hoosier families, just so that Washington, D.C., can spend more and more on spending packages just like these.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, President Ronald Reagan once said: ``We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.''
Since then, we have added roughly $21 trillion to our Nation's debt. This simply cannot go on. If we do not begin to tackle this challenge now, it will be tackled for us by our creditors.
We need to learn from the commonsense words of President Reagan and start to live within our means today. If we don't, we will be putting our troops at a disadvantage and our national security at risk because of sequestration and leave for our children a country with less freedom and less opportunity than the one that we inherited. That is unacceptable to me, and I plan to fight to prevent that future from becoming a reality. I urge my colleagues' support for this amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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