Providing for Further Consideration of H. Con. Res. 376, Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2007
PROVIDING FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF H. CON. RES. 376, CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 17, 2006)
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Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, let me first congratulate the chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr. Nussle. This is his sixth year chairing the Budget Committee. As I think most of my colleagues know, it has been six tough years, and Mr. Nussle has done a very, very good job in bringing us to this point. And I want to congratulate him and wish him well as he decides to leave the House and to pursue other political interests in the State of Iowa.
I think all of us know that we have been through a long, arduous process to bring this budget to the floor tonight. It has been months of conversations with Members, not always easy; certainly it has been very difficult. But the process has allowed us to better understand each other, understand our needs, and understand the needs of the American people.
As one of my colleagues earlier was pointing out, revenues to the Federal Government grew last year at over 11 percent. Revenues to the Federal Government this year are going to grow at over 12 percent, which really, I think, speaks volumes, that lowering tax rates does not necessarily mean lower revenues to the Federal Government.
If you look at what we did in the late 1990s when we balanced the budget, it was revenue growing to double digits rates and us holding the line on spending. And I know there is a lot of well-meaning, well-intentioned spending that people would like. But we can't continue to spend our kids' and their kids' inheritance every year, which has gone on here far too long. And if you look at what we are doing here, with revenues rising and holding the line on spending, we can, in fact, balance the budget in the next 4 or 5 years. It is very possible. And so I want to thank all of my colleagues for working with us to get to this point.
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Mr. BOEHNER. Reclaiming my time, I thank my colleague from Delaware for his willingness to work through these long several months. I think you have very accurately portrayed the agreements that we have come to. And it is important to understand that we were able to do this without spending $1 more than what the President asked for. The $873 billion, 302(a) discretionary cap remains in effect. But moving the priorities around to meet the needs of our various Members is how we were able to do this. And any additional spending on the Labor, HHS bill at the end of the day is either going to have to be offset or come from other 302(b) accounts.
And the commitment is that we will get there at the end of the day. We will work with Members across the spectrum in terms of how we get there. But the important thing is that we are able to meet the needs of all of our Members without exceeding the President's numbers.
So I want to thank my colleague, tell him how much I have enjoyed working with him and all of the members of our conference. I am just glad that we are here.
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