[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 21 (Monday, February 5, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H1156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   OUR COUNTRY HAS A SPENDING PROBLEM

  (Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, you know, today President Bush presented 
his budget to the American people, and even though it is bigger and 
more bloated than I think it should be, I am pleased that it does 
include a balanced budget without raising taxes.
  As stewards of the taxpayers' money, we must be diligent in working 
to achieve savings and making this government run more efficiently. We 
have plenty of data from the GAO and from our Inspector General showing 
that money is wasted throughout the Federal Government, and the 
President's budget does target 140 programs that could and should be 
removed.
  So whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, there is consensus 
among the American people that we do have a spending problem in the 
Federal Government. It is not a revenue problem. Tax reductions have 
generated record revenues. It is definitely a spending problem, and it 
is time that we begin to fine-tune our focus and decide what is a 
priority with this government.
  So I hope that my colleagues on either side of this center aisle will 
join together, will take a good hard look at this budget, and will find 
a way to balance it without raising taxes.

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