Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chair, I thank the chairwoman and all the members of the Budget Committee who voted for this budget, and now it is on the floor.

I encourage all Members of the House to vote in favor of this budget, and that is because our national debt continues to grow exponentially every day, every hour, every minute, and every second. We cannot afford to have any more time waiting to address the spending crisis that we are in.

This budget begins to put these irresponsible elitist policies behind us, and creates a culture around here that makes sure that our friends and neighbors who really need the help get the help without forcing our Nation's bills on our children and grandchildren, future generations, some of whom don't even exist yet.

Specifically, this budget reforms mandatory spending so it is focused on those, Mr. Chairman, in our communities who really need help. This will ensure that our country will focus limited resources on those who are most vulnerable, while encouraging a culture of self-reliance instead of government dependence.

We should be measuring, Mr. Chairman, success of these programs on how many people we get off of them, not how many people we trap in them.

Mr. Chairman, as the chart I am holding shows, because mandatory spending is over two-thirds of our total annual spending, reforming this part of our spending is the only way to really get our debt and deficits down. This budget, for the first time, starts addressing this part of the pie, $203 billion worth, and that is because of the leadership here of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Now, this budget also protects our friends and neighbors by making sure our families are safe, that the military has the tools that they need, and that the administration has the money it needs to secure our border.

This budget also jump-starts tax reform, which will put money back in the pockets of hardworking Hoosiers and all Americans.

Mr. Chairman, in closing, as President Ronald Reagan once said: ``We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.'' That is still true today, Mr. Chairman, except that that $1 trillion is now $20 trillion and growing.

Again, I encourage all my colleagues to vote in favor of this budget.

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