Hearing of the House Appropriations Committee - FY 2016 Report on the Suballocation of Budget Allocations

Hearing

Our last item on the agenda today is consideration of the 302(b) suballocations for each of the 12
appropriations bills. Approval of these allocations will allow us to bring all of our bills to the
floor.

The 302(b)s before you are fair and balanced -- providing funding for each program, agency, and
department in the federal government to fulfill its purpose.

As you know, we are operating within a very constrained budget this year. With these numbers,
we are making the most of a tough situation.

We did make responsible decisions to prioritize funding where we believe it is most needed -- for
instance, for our national defense.

But we also had to make tough choices to balance out any budgetary increases. We tried to
spread the pain fairly, so to speak -- asking everyone to tighten their belts, and holding no
department immune from close scrutiny.

This may not be the best possible scenario for our budget, but the fact of the matter is that the top
line budget caps are the law of the land. If we want to get the ball rolling on our Appropriations
work -- if we want the chance of getting this done on time and under regular order - we must
make the best of what we have. So our goal is to use these 302(b)s to move forward with our
bills.

In order to continue with our appropriations work, I ask that the Committee approve this report
today.

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