[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 30, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H992]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SPENDING WITHOUT TRANSPARENCY

  (Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, the hold-onto-your-wallet Congress is 
at it again. Just a week after raising costs to nearly all of America's 
small businesses, they are spending billions of taxpayer dollars with 
little or no explanation of where it is going.
  After months of campaigning and pledges on open government and more 
accountability, the Democrats are still behind locked doors spending 
billions of taxpayer dollars with very little transparency.
  Tomorrow, they are going to cram through an omnibus spending package, 
not a continuing resolution, which basically is going to pay the 
government's bills; and the price tag is $463 billion, a $463 billion 
budget. And from what we understand, it has been crafted by a couple of 
folks, that's all. The Budget Committee didn't hold hearings. It was 
not reviewed for waste, fraud and abuse.
  But from what we are understanding from the reports in the news, we 
have two Appropriations chairmen who have put it together, and you and 
I are just supposed to trust their judgment. I think so, Madam Speaker; 
we need to have accountability, we need to have review.




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