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Providing for Consideration of H.R. 4241, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005

Date: Nov. 17, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Senior Citizens Entitlements and the Safety Net Health Insurance


PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4241, DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT OF 2005--Continued -- (House of Representatives - November 17, 2005)

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Mr. CHOCOLA. Mr. Speaker, I think there is one thing we can all agree on tonight, and that is the deficit is too big. But the question is what are we going to do about it. There are only two ways we have a deficit, Mr. Speaker. Either we spend too much, or we tax too little.

I know that the people of the Second District of Indiana do not feel like they are taxed too little, and I do not think that they are a whole lot different from the rest of Americans. The fact is we spend enough money around here. What we do not do is prioritize.

We have heard and will continue to hear a whole lot of rhetoric that we are slashing spending.

Mr. Speaker, the truth is we are not cutting spending at all. Today we are simply slowing the future growth of government. The truth is that Medicare spending will grow next year. Food stamp spending will grow next year. Student financial aid will grow next year. Now, I understand that only in Washington smaller increases are considered cuts; but even by Washington standards, our efforts today are modest.

When you cut through all of the rhetoric, what we are doing tonight is slowing the growth of government over the next 5 years from 6.4 percent to 6.3 percent. That is one-tenth of one percent. That is equivalent to a family making $50,000 a year finding savings of $50 a year. Anyone who says we cannot find savings of one-tenth of 1 percent has no serious interest in making government more efficient, has no ideas other than to raise taxes on the economy and American families, and they only want to use how much we spend rather than how well we spend as a measurement of success.

Mr. Speaker, the American people understand that spending money is easy and managing money is hard. Anyone serious about reducing the deficit by returning to fiscal sanity and starting to make government more self-sufficient will support this rule and support this bill. I encourage all of my colleagues to do so.

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