Appointment of Conferees on S. Con. Res. 11, Concurrent Resolution on the Budget, Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. SANFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman. I would join in urging my colleagues to defeat this Democratic motion to instruct the conferees, and I do so very much tied to the working families that I talked to back home because working families back home believe in balancing the checkbook. They have to do it every day in their lives.

What they say to me is, Why in the world can't you guys do the same up in Washington, D.C.?

In that regard, if we were to go the other route--I mean, keep in mind, the President's budget proposed going from running structural $500 billion a year deficits to $1.1 trillion a year deficits. This is moving in the wrong direction if we go with the instructions.

I think that when I talk to working families back home, what they tell me is we have got to deal with problems as they come along. Doing nothing is not an option.

So when there is a hole in the roof, they are out there with tin or they are out there with shingles and they are, in fact, repairing the roof. When there is a problem with the septic tank, they are out there with a shovel, digging and trying to fix it.

In the same regard, I think what the committee and what the conference have come up with with regard to looking at a way of saving Medicare could be very, very instructive. As has already been noted, within 15 years, the actuaries say that the Medicare fund will be out of money. Doing nothing is, indeed, not an option.

I think philosophically you have got to look at this and say, Did Medicare D work? It has worked. This is giving choice.

So, in essence, 50 million seniors get to decide the future of Medicare versus 15 unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.

Finally, I would say, what is important about this, I think, from the standpoint of working families, what they tell me is that borrowing from Peter to pay for Paul never works. It doesn't work in their budgets at home; it shouldn't work in Washington, D.C.

Yet, with this proposal to come up with paid sick leave, a lot of people would love that, but it ought to be addressed at the State level. States run on balanced budget requirements. A number of States could come in with proposals to that effect, but if we do it here in Washington, D.C., at the very time when we are running structural $500 billion deficits, it means that we are handing the bill off to the kids to pay for this. We are, indeed, borrowing from Peter to pay for Paul.

It is for those very reasons that I urge defeat of the Democratic motion to instruct.

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