Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Defense Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, we were promised that this year would be different, that we would run all 12 spending bills individually and actually find some savings for the American people. Yet, this is another year where the taxpayers' hard-earned dollars are just squandered.

Congress has passed all required spending bills only four times in about the 50 years since we have been under the current system. The last time Congress actually passed all the bills was 1996, when the U.S. national debt was a staggering $5.2 trillion.

Just last week the debt hit $33 trillion. This is a cycle of perpetual failure, and, yes, our citizens are sick of it. The American people have lost faith in our ability to handle the country's fiscal issues.

Madam Speaker, the other side talks about how efficiently they moved through things. Yeah, they moved through things. In 1996, we were $5 trillion in debt. Now we are $33 trillion in debt. They have efficiently spent us into bankruptcy because there is no amount of money, Madam Speaker, there is zero amount of money that they won't spend. They will spend as much as the American people make and then so much more.

The cost of living is tied to the spending, Madam Speaker. Our citizens--my bosses and their bosses--can't afford their groceries, gasoline, or electricity because this town continues to spend like there is no tomorrow.

Madam Speaker, we should pass this rule so we can pass the 12 bills and so we can reject the nongermane Senate bill that hooks the FAA with Ukraine spending. Maybe both of those are important, Madam Speaker, but tell me why I have got to vote to keep airplanes flying in the United States and also vote to spend money in a war 8,000 miles away. The American people are sick of that failure theater, Madam Speaker.

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