Further Continuing Appropriations, Fiscal Year 2011
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Today's CR is nothing but a continuation of the culture of overspending, persistence of a broken process, and a refusal to make the tough decisions, end earmarks, and do the job we were sent here to do. As a result, our Federal spending is off the charts. We are staring at another trillion-dollar budget deficit. Debts are stacking up over $13 trillion. Unemployment continues to hover around 10 percent, and congressional approval by the public remains at an all-time and dangerous low.
For the past 2 years, the administration has been given a free hand, with an unlimited credit card. The results are mind-boggling: 27 percent in growth in nondefense discretionary spending since 2008. And that's not including the bailouts and a failed stimulus package. Meanwhile, the Appropriations Committee has not done its job. No checks, no balances, no discipline, no bills.
What do we have to show for our work this year on the committee and in the Congress? A 2-week extension of more of the same. A date change is the sum total of the work of the Appropriations Committee. Disappointing to say the least. I believe we can do much better by severely cutting spending, conducting rigorous and thoughtful oversight, changing the culture of appropriations, and performing outreach inside and outside the Congress.
Fortunately, I believe wholesale change is on the way, Mr. Speaker. We have got to cut discretionary spending and exert fiscal discipline on fat agencies. We have got to stop the administration's regulatory war on small businesses and working families and rein in the out-of-control bureaucracies like the EPA. And we have got to start listening to the American people and their views rather than building these bills in the Speaker's office behind closed doors. Let's let the light shine in and open up some closets around that stale office.
Mr. Speaker, I urge the House to reject this 2-week delay, cut spending, return to regular order, and conduct our business out in the open.
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