Pelosi: Fiscal 2011 Budget Another Key Step by New Direction Congress in Restoring Fiscal Responsibility

Statement

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on H. Res. 1493, the fiscal 2011 budget, which the House passed this evening as part of the rule on the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2010:

"Today's 2011 budget is another key step by the New Direction Congress in restoring fiscal responsibility. It will require cuts below the President's budget. It is also a statement of our values as a Congress and as a nation, recognizing that job creation and economic growth are prerequisites to lower deficits. It demands that we live within our means, complies with proven deficit-reducing PAYGO, and works to eliminate waste and inefficiency in our spending. And it sets us on-course to balanced budgets in the future.

"This builds on a record of responsibility in the 111th Congress. We reinstated "pay-as-you-go' budgeting as a rule of the House; now, it is the law of the land. The House has passed bipartisan measures to clean up defense acquisition spending, rein in improper federal payments, and cut government waste by shining a light on ineffective programs.

"Congressional Republicans refuse to join us in returning our nation to fiscal responsibility. Instead, they threaten to take us back to the failed Bush policies that produced record deficits and nearly doubled the national debt. We cannot let that happen. We cannot saddle our children and grandchildren with an unsustainable debt. And we will keep working to restore discipline and balance to our country's budget."

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