Joel Hefley

Mr. HEFLEY

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order against page 40, line 13, to page 42, line 15 because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and therefore violates section 2(a) of rule XXI.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order on page 42, line 16, to page 42, line 21 because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and therefore violates section 2(a) of rule XXI.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order against page 42, line 22, to page 42, line 26 because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and therefore violates section 2(a) of rule XXI.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.

Mr. HEFLEY. I make a point on page 43, line 1, to page 43, line 16 because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and therefore violates section 2(a) of rule XXI.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order on page 44, line 15, to page 47, line 19 because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and therefore violates section 2(a) of rule XXI.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order on page 47, line 20, to page 48, line 3 because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and therefore violates section 2(a) of rule XXI.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I raise a point of order on page 56, line 6, to page 56, line 20, because it provides an appropriation for an unauthorized program and, therefore, violates section 2(a) of rule XXI.

Mr. HEFLEY

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment that would cut discretionary spending in this appropriations bill by $1.4 billion, an amount equal to 1 percent of the $142.5 billion discretionary spending price tag. As many of my colleagues know, I have offered a similar amendment on many of the appropriations bills. Let me begin by saying, however, that I recognize the difficult job the committee has had in putting together this bill. It is complex, it is big, it is a lot of money, it is important, and there are many, many good things in this; and I commend the chairman and the ranking member, particularly, for their effort in this, to produce a bill with as many good things in it as there are. However, the fact remains that the Federal budget for fiscal year 2005 is going to be too large. Until we can make a dent in the outrageous level of the Federal deficit, we must be even more diligent in reining in spending. I do not think it is too much to ask to trim the budget for this spending bill by a mere 1 percent and prove to the American public that we want to make a priority of balancing the Federal budget. I also want to point out that this amendment is structured so that the administration would maintain the ability to determine which accounts should be cut or scaled back in order to achieve this rescission, rather than cutting all programs across the board. My intent is not to single out all programs for reduction, but I am confident that we can eliminate some of the waste and abuse and find a way to trim 1 percent of the total spending. Thus, I ask my colleagues to support this amendment and reduce the amount of discretionary spending in this bill by 1 cent on the dollar.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. HEFLEY

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise again to offer an amendment to cut the level of funding in this appropriations bill by 1 percent. This equals about $5.6 million. This is not the biggest bill that we deal with. However, the increase in the bill is over 3 percent over last year. I do not mean this at all as a slap against D.C., our Nation's Capital, certainly not a slap against the committee, because as most Members are aware, I have offered a series of these amendments on the appropriations bills because I think we have to start drawing the line somewhere and some time. The budget we have for next year is too large, and we can do something about the deficit now if we would start doing it. I would really be remiss, however, Mr. Chairman, if I did not commend the chairman and ranking member on a very difficult job that they have had to do; and, obviously, they have done a very excellent job of it as evidenced by the fact that we are not spending half a day on the D.C. bill down here, that they have worked out the problems beforehand. So I commend them on a tremendous job that both of them and the committee have done. And it is many times a thankless job because most of the folks back home do not care what happens in the D.C. bill, and so it does not get them any great acclaim back home for the good job they are doing. But I would like to put in the record that they have done a good job. Still, I do not think a cut of 1 cent on a dollar is too much to ask for or is unreasonable, given our current budget situation.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. HEFLEY

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise today, first of all, to congratulate the gentleman from Georgia (Chairman Kingston) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran), for crafting a bill that actually spends less money than it did last year. My amendment is not in any way intended to slight the chairman or ranking member. They are good friends and work hard at this, and they have done in many respects an excellent job. I know it is a difficult task to draft, and I want to express my appreciation for their hard work. However, I am going to offer again, as I have on many of the other appropriations bills, an amendment to cut the bill by 1 percent. I know in committee how it works. In committee, it is difficult to get these bills out, and you have to get them out. So you make compromises, and you give a little here and you give a little there, and they usually come out, in my opinion, at least at a higher figure than is desirable if we are serious about trying to balance the budget. So we do the best we can in committee and bring it to the floor, and I am asking for us to consider cutting one penny on every dollar so we can move towards that elusive idea of a balanced budget. If we would do just this 1 percent on each of the appropriations bills, it would have a tremendous impact on moving towards that balanced budget. Mr. Chairman, I encourage an aye vote. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I cannot think of any two gentleman that I hate being on the opposite side of more than these two gentlemen, because they are so conscientious. Let me say that I think there are ways that we can get at this 1 percent without doing all the damage that has been suggested. For instance, I have not used frank mailing in years. Maybe we do not need as big a frank mailing budget. I have never had my full complement of staff that they allow us to have. Maybe we do not need as many staff as they say we can have. There are things like that that I think we could do to bring this budget down. I give several hundred thousand dollars each year back into the pot that I simply do not spend, because that is a budget that I can control. So if I mean what I say about balancing the budget, I feel I ought to try to control it. That has amounted to many millions of dollars over the time I have been here. So there are ways. Mr. Chairman, I encourage an aye vote. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. HEFLEY

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.