The true tragedy of this bill is that we have squandered an opportunity to meet the needs of millions of fellow Americans and of our housing and transportation infrastructure.
I want to begin by commending the Staff of the Subcommittee. These individuals - Minority staff Kate Hallahan and Joe Carlile, and the Majority staff of Dena Baron, Doug Disrud, Carl Barrick, Cheryle Tucker, and Brian Barnard - have spent countless hours developing this bill and their dedication and hard work should never be taken for granted. I thank each of you.
We had the chance to write a good and meaningful bill, but we have wasted this opportunity completely because of a political decision.
With the Budget Control Act that Congress passed in 2011, we set budgetary caps for every Fiscal Year through 2021. As we all know, the Senate-passed budget follows the law and their appropriation acts will be marked to those statutory levels.
Here in the House, because of politics, the Majority passed a budget resolution contrary to statute and set our discretionary spending limits $90 billion below the statutory level.
The Senate T-HUD Subcommittee recently marked up a bill that is $10 billion more than this bill.
Here in the House we are using the Ryan budget to get to these allocations. And because of a stubbornness that goes beyond reason, there seems to have been no willingness to work out a "Grand Bargain" or solve sequestration and reach a realistic and levelheaded allocation.
I sincerely want to compliment Mr. Latham on the job he has done. But, his hands were tied behind his back. And, quite frankly, the Chairman of the full Committee, my friend Mr. Rogers, was hobbled. Both these men are long-time appropriators who appreciate our Committee and understand the good that we can do for this country. But they are not being allowed to do what they have spent their careers on this Committee trying to accomplish.
Mr. Chairman, I could go into the standard speech we all stand up here and give about the details of this bill, and how the cuts will devastate this program or that project or all of our communities. But, I don't have to. If this bill passes, it will speak for itself.
The true tragedy of this bill is not what is in it or not in it. The true tragedy is that we have squandered an opportunity to meet the needs of millions of fellow Americans and of our housing and transportation infrastructure. And, we have squandered this opportunity because of an unwillingness to come together and discuss reasonable solutions. Instead, regretfully, we've chosen a path based on a purely political decision.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
