21st Century Cures Act

Floor Speech

Madam Chair, the greatest danger facing our country is a national debt that now exceeds our entire economy. This year, we spent $230 billion just to pay interest on that debt.

The CBO warns that, on our current trajectory, interest payments will exceed our entire defense budget just 8 years from now. Behold the chaos in Greece, and consider that our Nation is not far behind.

Congress has labored mightily to enact a budget that saves us from this dismal future, but having set that course, we must stay that course. The underlying bill makes many worthy changes in law, but it evades the discipline the budget requires to save our country from the fate of Greece.

Mr. Brat's amendment places this bill back within the boundaries of the

[Page: H5070] GPO's PDF
budget without budget gimmickry and can be easily accommodated by cutting lower priority spending. The question before us is whether we will fund our priorities responsibly or follow Greece to ruin.

Source