Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008
Floor Speech
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - July 26, 2007)
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Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, we have offered this amendment for the eighth time.
Let me just help set a framework before I talk specifically about the amendment. Today we have approximately a $200 billion annual budget deficit. We have an $8 trillion national debt. We have a budget that we have been debating over the last several weeks and will complete the spending process of that next week, but we have a budget of $3 trillion annual budget.
We have an entitlement spending crisis looming, when we think about what's going to happen in the next 10 to 15 years relative to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. We have got a crisis that we have to begin to deal with.
Today, today the Federal Government spends approximately $23,000 per household. Now, with that as a frame work, I think it's fair to ask, is government too big or too small? If you ask that question of the average American family, my guess is when they think about those facts, $200 billion deficit, $3 trillion annual budget, $8 trillion national debt and an entitlement crisis that is looming, and a Federal Government that spends $23,000 per American household, if you asked the average American family if government is too big, my guess is they would probably say yes.
All this amendment does is begin to take that first step, that modest first step into getting our spending under control.
It says this: instead of in this appropriation bill, instead of spending $53.5 billion, let's just spend $52 billion, which happens to be the amount that we spent last year. So it's not a cut, as our friends on the other side will most assuredly say when it's their turn to speak. It's not a cut; it's simply level funding, holding the line on spending. It's a 3 percent reduction from what's in the bill, simply going to spend what we did last year.
That's not too much to ask when you think about the context we find ourselves in today in the United States of America. Here is why it's important, and I have said this every single time.
Again, every time I bring this amendment, I always articulate to the Chair of the subcommittee and the ranking member and the Chair and ranking member of the full committee that, you know, I don't do this to be a pain.
I really believe we have to begin to focus on reducing spending. I appreciate the work that the Appropriations Committee does. I appreciate the work of the subcommittee. But if we don't begin to get a handle on spending, we are going to have problems economically in the future.
The way it works is spending inevitably leads to more taxes. The American family is already overtaxed. That's why it's important. We start to get a handle on spending, so we can reduce the tax burden that the families across this country face.
Mr. Chairman, I would urge a ``yes'' vote on the amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of our time.
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Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, just a couple of things. I want to pick up on what the gentleman from Texas was talking about, families, and a lady from a family from our district, Theresa from West Liberty, Ohio, a small town in Ohio, said, when talking about spending, talking about taxes, talking about the growth of government, talking about the fact we've got an $8 trillion national debt, a $3 trillion budget, the government spends $23,000 per household, and all we're asking for in this legislation, all we've been asking for in each of these amendments, is to fund government at the same level we did last year, which all kinds of families have to do just like this family in West Liberty, Ohio.
``We're in the middle class, and we're the ones the tax hikes hit the hardest. We're trying to put our kids through college. Can't government live within their means?''
I mean, pretty straightforward. It's amazing how the American people get it. If you ask the American people in this framework, all this spending, all this debt, all this deficit, is it too much to ask to say, you know what, Government, just spend what you did before. And the playbook from the other side never changes. As the gentleman from Texas articulated, we want to spend what we spent last year in this appropriations bill. Not a cut. We want to spend what we did last year. Yet the other side will say, if we do that, the sky's going to fall, the world's going to end, everything will be terrible. Oh my goodness, we won't have cops on the street.
That's just baloney. We want to spend exactly what we spent last year, because if we don't, the ramifications, the consequences for future generations, as the gentleman from Texas pointed out, are huge. And it starts with the entitlement programs that everybody knows, Republicans and Democrats know, everybody knows those are going to be problems in the future.
That's all this amendment does. It's not Draconian cuts. It's not devastating. It's not the end of the world. It's not the sky is falling. It's saying, you know what, instead of spending $53.5 billion, which is what this legislation wants to do, let's spend $52 billion, exactly what we spent last year.
Mr. Chairman, that doesn't seem to be too much to ask when we're thinking about the context we find ourselves in, and, frankly, when we're thinking about the competition we face today in the international marketplace.
As the gentleman from Texas pointed out, our Comptroller has pointed out the problems we face. It's critical that we begin to get a handle on that. That's why we bring the amendment forward, that's why it makes common sense, and that's why I urge a ``yes'' vote.
With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, I know we have just 30 seconds, and the gentleman from New York will close.
Again, it's a straightforward amendment. It's not a cut. It's level funding. All kinds of families have to do it every single year across this country. Again, I don't think it's too much to ask for government to do the same, particularly when you look at the facts and the financial situation that we're facing.
With that, I yield back the remainder of our time.
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