[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 32 (Tuesday, February 24, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H2611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          ALICE IN WONDERLAND WORLD OF CONGRESSIONAL BUDGETING

  (Mr. PAULSEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, welcome to the Alice in Wonderland world of 
congressional budgeting, a place where Congress calls for fiscal 
responsibility, but then spends well beyond our means, even as the 
budget deficit grows to over $1.4 trillion.
  We're all too familiar with the litany of the spending that's already 
occurred this session; $350 billion for the TARP bailout, $787 billion 
for the pork-filled stimulus bill, and this week, right after the so-
called fiscal responsibility summit, Congressional leaders will bring 
up a giant omnibus spending bill that will spend another $410 billion, 
an 8 percent increase over funding from last year, and has over 9,000 
earmarks. My constituents aren't seeing an 8 percent increase in their 
paychecks.
  The nonpartisan Brookings Institution also cited recently, and I 
quote, ``these are just not deficits as far as the eye can see, but 
they're trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see.''
  Mr. Speaker we're making sacrifices every day. Congress should 
continue to do the same.

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