[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 72 (Thursday, June 8, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007

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                               speech of

                            HON. JOEL HEFLEY

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 7, 2006

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5521) making 
     appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year 
     ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes:

  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Chairman, I had intended to rise again today to offer 
an amendment to cut the level of funding in this appropriations bill by 
1 percent but the committee rose before I could get here. This amount 
equals $30.3 million.
  I have offered many amendments like this over the past several years. 
I understand the difficulty appropriators must have in narrowing down 
the requests from members and the administration for money, and I 
applaud them for bringing us a bill that reflects an amount that is 
less than that which the administration has requested for FY07.
  However, this appropriations bill still reflects a budget increase of 
nearly $110 million over last year's Legislative Branch budget. I 
strongly believe that this appropriations bill, as well as the 
projected deficit for next year, is still much too large.
  The Capitol Visitor's Center, which receives funding in this bill, is 
long past its deadline and has been grossly over budget. This is a 
prime example of our inability to effectively control spending, even on 
projects in our own backyard. It is projects such as this that have 
greatly contributed to our Nation's lack of trust in their government's 
ability to manage spending responsibly.
  Fiscal responsibility should start in this chamber, and by voting for 
this amendment, you are stating for the record your belief that the 
budget deficit is much too large and that the American taxpayers should 
not be burdened in the future because we can not control our spending 
today.

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