Paul Broun

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, my amendment would reduce the operating budget of the Office of the Energy Secretary by 50 percent, transferring $2.5 million to the spending reduction account. I've spent a considerable amount of time on the floor of the House during the FY 2012 appropriations process working to find spending cuts across every level of the Federal Government and across nearly every agency. I understand the challenges that the Secretary of Energy faces and the enormity of the Department that he is tasked with overseeing. But even the Department of Energy must do its part to reduce the deficit. We've got to cut wherever we can. The future of our Nation depends upon it. Our children and grandchildren's future depends upon it. We're broke as a Nation. We have to look into every nook, cranny, and corner of the Federal expenditures and find wherever we can reduce expenditures, and this is my attempt to continue to do so. I urge support of my amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I move to strike the last word.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, when I was just listening to my colleague on the other side talking about this is a small amount of money, I just did a town hall meeting in Thomson, Georgia, just recently. A lady there got up and said to me, ``Dr. Broun, a million dollars is a lot of money.'' And we here in Congress talk as if a million dollars, or even a billion dollars, is not a lot of money, and it is to the citizens of this country. We cannot continue down this road of, as Mr. Royce was saying, of borrowing 40 cents on every dollar that the Federal Government spends. It's creating tremendous uncertainty out there in the economic world. And this debt is going to be crushing to us. I believe we are in an economic emergency. So cutting $10 million for a project, though it might be interesting--I am a scientist, I am a physician, I have a science background--there are a lot of things that would be interesting to research and interesting things to do. But just like a business when it gets overextended, what's it do? It lowers its borrowing limit. Then it starts trying to work out that debt. Then it starts looking at every expense that it has, every corner of its expenses, and tries to cut expenses. Besides that, then they start looking at revenue. Now, my Democratic colleagues and the President want to raise taxes to increase the revenue, but that actually is a tax that will drive away jobs. In fact, I have got a lot of businesses, small as well as large, in my district that tell me the tax burden today is so high that they are not hiring new people. And increasing taxes on small business is going to further drive away jobs from this country. So cutting $10 million may not sound like a lot to Members of Congress, but I am going to support this amendment. I urge its adoption. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission is a Federal-State partnership intended to address the economic needs of the southeastern United States, and the Lord really knows that we have some economic needs in that area. In fact, in my district, we have counties that unemployment approaches or exceeds 25 percent. But contained within the FY12 Energy and Water appropriations bill is $250,000 in funding for this commission. My amendment eliminates funding for the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission, transferring the $250,000 to the spending reduction account. Some of you may ask: Why go after such a small amount as $250,000? Mr. Chairman, here we see a Federal commission conducting work that would be better managed by a State agency. This entity is so small that it's hard to even find information on how the commission spends hard- earned taxpayer dollars. In fact, we can't even find a Web site for this commission. We need to look for spending cuts across every level of the Federal Government, even if that means finding cuts in the smallest of Federal bureaucracies. For generations, Americans have been told by Members across the aisle that more government, more bureaucracy, and more Federal spending are the answers to all of their problems. We're losing our liberty because of that kind of philosophy. This line of thinking has removed many of our liberties that our Founders intended for us to have. Congress must make every effort to roll back the Big Government mentality in Washington and allow States to manage their own affairs. Zeroing out funding for this commission would be a good step in sending government powers back to the States and the people. I urge support of my amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Reclaiming my time, I again want to say that Members of Congress should do what I am doing, and I believe it's very critical for us to do so. I have supported over $5 billion worth of cuts in the appropriations bills that we've seen thus far. We are in an economic emergency as a Nation. Creating jobs in the private sector and putting our country back on good economic course and creating a stronger economy and creating more taxpayers by creating those jobs out in the private sector is what is absolutely critical for the future of this Nation. So even though this may sound like a meager amount of money to some Members of Congress, $10 million is still a lot of money, and I support the amendment. I applaud Mr. Royce for bringing it. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, my amendment cuts funding within the Department of Energy's Office of Science, transferring more than $820 million to the spending reduction account. Contained within this $820 million reduction are some of the most egregious examples of government waste imaginable, such as $47 million for undetermined upgrades--undetermined upgrades--$20 million for the energy innovation hub for batteries, $4 million for energy efficient-enabling materials, and almost $9 million for the experimental program to stimulate competitive research. In my extensions, I will list a whole lot of other egregious examples of government waste that this amendment will cut. These are just some of the many examples of duplicative, wasteful examples within the Department of Energy's Office of Science that are funded by taxpayer dollars that would be cut by this amendment. While I believe the Federal Government does have a role in vital basic science research, I do not believe the Federal Government should be spending scarce taxpayers' dollars on every type of research imaginable or suggested here in Congress. Much of the research done in the agency should be done in the private sector. Tough fiscal decisions have to be made, and they have to be made right now. We have put off bringing discipline to the budget and appropriations process far too long. Members of Congress need to look far and wide through every single nook, cranny, and corner of the Federal expenditures and cut wasteful, duplicative spending. And this is just an amendment that will cut over $820 million of those kinds of projects that we just cannot afford. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment. My amendment cuts funding within the Department of Energy's Office of Science, transferring $820,488,000 dollars to the spending reduction account. Contained within this $820,488,000 reduction are some of the most egregious examples of government waste: $20 million for Energy Innovation Hub for Batteries; $24.3 million for Fuels from sunlight Energy Hub; $547,075,000 for Biological and Environmental Research; $8 million for Solar Electricity from Photovoltaics; $16 million for Carbon capture and sequestration; $8 million for Advanced solid-state lighting; $4 million for Energy Efficient--Enabling Materials; $10 million for Methane hydrates; $47 million for Undetermined upgrades; $15 million for Energy systems simulation--internal combustion engine; $8.52 million for Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research; $4 million for Physical behaviors of materials-- Photovoltaics; 52,741,000 for Chemical sciences, biosciences and geo sciences--Solar Photochemistry; $43,003,000.00 for Chemical sciences, biosciences and geo sciences--Geosciences; and $12,849,000 for Workforce development. While I believe the federal government does have a role in vital basic science research, I do not believe the federal government should be spending scarce taxpayer dollars on all types of research. Much of the research done in the agency should be done in the private sector. Tough fiscal decisions have to be made now! We have put off for too long bringing discipline to the budget and appropriations process. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Speaker, this debt ceiling is starting to feel like deja vu. If you think back to 1990, President George Herbert Walker Bush agreed to $2 in spending cuts for every dollar in tax hikes. He agreed to this with the congressional Democrats, but that's not what ended up happening. All of the Democrats' tax hikes went into effect, but the promised spending cuts never materialized. We cannot fall for this trick again, and that's the same trick that we see from the people on the other side, my Democratic colleagues and the President. Higher taxes do not lead to more government revenue. We have seen proof of this in years past. Instead of raising taxes, let's leave money in the hands of small businesses, the job creators, so that they can create jobs. More jobs means more revenue and less deficit. Higher taxes means more people out of work and higher debt. In fact, President Obama admitted in 2009 that ``the last thing you want to do in the middle of a recession is raise taxes.'' And, in the past, liberals in Congress have adamantly spoken out in opposition to debt ceiling increases. Then-Senator Obama said in 2006 that a debt limit increase was ``a sign of leadership failure.'' I could not agree more. It's a time for lawmakers to stop talking out of both sides of their mouths and do what is best for the economy, for our Nation, and the American people. Over the last 10 years we have raised the debt ceiling 16 times. It hasn't worked, and now we are at the end of that road. We need to try something new so that we can get started actually paying down our enormous debt. We must get our country on an economically viable course and create jobs in the private sector. That's why I have introduced H.R. 2409, the Debt Ceiling Reduction Act, which would lower the debt ceiling to $13 trillion, and that would force politicians in Washington to make the cuts to our budget that our economy so desperately needs and start figuring out how to pay off this unsustainable debt that we have created. Madam Speaker, I hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will cosponsor and support this legislation. It's a great way to both create jobs and to create a stronger economy.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. In reclaiming my time, I am going to support Dr. Harris' amendment. As we face this huge budget deficit as a Nation, we've got to look at every source of cuts that we can possibly accomplish. It's time not only to cut spending, but we've got to start paying back our debts, and we're not doing that here in this country. I think it is absolutely critical. The American people, the people who are looking for jobs today, want us to do the right thing. Programs like this and many others are killing our economy, and they're killing jobs in America. So I'm going to support Dr. Harris' amendment. I hope at least enough of our colleagues here in the House will understand the financial crisis that we're in as a Nation and will support it also. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, my amendment cuts $26.51 million from the Vehicle Technologies Deployment Subprogram in the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Clean Cities program and transfers those funds to the spending reduction account. The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has identified many concerns with this program which it has shared with the Department of Energy. This program filters over $25 million to about 90 coalitions to buy electric charging stations, E85 pumps, alternative fuel vehicles, and other infrastructure. Beyond concerns with how this program is run and how the dollars are being spent, this program should not be funded or run by the Federal Government. This type of program is best served by the private sector or local and State governments. Despite the management concerns, the Department of Energy has recently announced its intention to broaden the scope of the Vehicle Technologies Deployment Subprogram to also include the National Clean Fleets program. One mission of this program is to assist Fortune 100 companies to upgrade their commercial fleet. Is this really an appropriate use of Federal dollars when we are facing a $1.6 trillion deficit? Is it really appropriate to be helping companies such as Enterprise, GE, and Ryder upgrade their fleets to electric or alternative fuel vehicles? The answer to these questions, in my opinion, is no. In fact, I think most of the American people believe the answer to those questions is no. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is my distinct pleasure to congratulate Dr. Stewart B. Simms, Jr. for 30 years of excellent service at Beech Haven Baptist Church. I am confident that Athens is a better place in which to live, work, and study because of the presence of his fine church. Beech Haven's building stands as a stunning landmark and the reputation of its members as a powerful testimony to the beauty of our God. Beech Haven's success and strength is due, in large part, to Dr. Simms' faithfulness and care. Many blessings as Dr. Simms continues on his journey of devoted service to the Lord. I not only value his friendship, but I hold him in the highest regard because of his work (1 Thessalonians 5:13).

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, we have overspent and we are overextended. Now we have to get out of debt. For the last 20 years, we have been increasing the debt ceiling and allowing Washington to spend more and more of the taxpayers' money. This method of madness hasn't worked, and today, our economy is suffering because of it. Yesterday, I introduced a unique bill that would lower the debt ceiling to $13 trillion. This proposal would force Washington to make the spending cuts that we so desperately need to pay down the debt. State and local governments, businesses and families understand, when you've maxed out your credit card, you can't just give yourself a credit increase. Instead, you have to cut spending and pay down your bills. The Federal Government is the only entity that does not understand this. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2409, the Debt Ceiling Reduction Act, because we need to turn this country in a completely different direction.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, my amendment would reduce the operating budget of the Office of the Defense Secretary by 10 percent, moving roughly $217 million to the spending reduction account. I have spent a considerable amount of time here on the floor of the House during this appropriations process working hard to find spending cuts across every level of the Federal Government and across nearly every agency. The Office of the Secretary has roughly $2.1 billion included in this bill for its operation for this fiscal year, which is four times the combined operating budget of the Secretaries in our three previous fiscal year 12 appropriations bills. I understand the challenges that the Secretary of Defense faces on a daily basis and the enormity of the department he is tasked with overseeing, but even the Department of Defense must do its part to reduce the deficit. I urge support of this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. Actually, this just cuts the money, 10 percent, out of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. It doesn't go into cutting Special Ops or other funds that the gentleman from Washington, my good friend, Mr. Dicks, was talking about. It just cuts 10 percent out of the Secretary's operating budget. I just wanted to clear that up. I thank the gentleman for yielding.