[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H232-H233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE WRONG DIRECTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, the House is scheduled to take up the 
omnibus appropriations bill for 2014, and I rise this morning to 
outline my objections to this measure.
  This is not the ``regular order'' promised to the American people in 
which each of the 12 appropriations bills is painstakingly vetted. It 
is all 12 bills rolled into one, with no opportunity for meaningful 
debate or amendment. True, it adheres to the budget that was passed in 
December, but that budget is nothing to brag about. That budget 
destroyed the only meaningful constraint on Federal spending that we 
have.
  One Member said he is surprised by opposition because ``this bill, 
for the 4th year in a row, cuts discretionary spending.'' Well, it only 
cuts it by Washington math. Last year, the discretionary spending of 
the United States Government was $986 billion. The measure appropriates 
$1,012 billion. That is an increase. And it is $45 billion more than 
the sequester would have allowed. After all, they didn't blow the lid 
off the sequester because they wanted to cut spending, now did they?
  So what is this money going for?
  Well, it increases money for Head Start by $600 million, despite the 
fact that every credible study has concluded that this program provides 
no lasting benefit for children;
  It continues wasteful TIGER grants, which, under the guise of 
transportation, puts money into projects like a 6-mile pedestrian mall 
in Fresno and streets that actually discourage automobile traffic;

[[Page H233]]

  It continues funding for the scandalous essential air service that 
pays to fly empty and near-empty planes across the country;
  It continues to throw money at all manner of expensive and failed 
green energy programs and other forms of corporate welfare.
  We are told to be grateful that it doesn't fund other wasteful 
programs, like high-speed rail. But when we vote for these 
appropriations, we are responsible for the money that we waste, not the 
money that we don't waste. The regular order would at least give the 
House a chance to examine and debate these questionable programs before 
we cast our vote. But not this process.
  But do not believe for a moment they won't be debated after we have 
cast our votes. This measure will face the full light of public 
scrutiny in the days ahead, and that may prove to be very harsh, 
indeed.

                              {time}  1030

  True, the measure makes some cuts, but in many cases it makes the 
wrong cuts.
  For example, although this bill reverses the cuts made to disabled 
military veterans' pensions, it maintains the pension reductions for 
all other military veterans--about 82 percent of our military retirees. 
According to published reports, over a 20-year period a retired 
enlisted servicemember will lose an average of $72,000 of promised 
pension payments and commissioned officers will lose $124,000.
  The Payments in Lieu of Taxes, or PILT, is not funded at all. That is 
the program that makes up a small portion of the revenues that the 
Federal Government has cost our rural communities as it has 
appropriated vast tracts of their land.
  To add insult to injury, this bill adds roughly $200 million to pay 
for more Federal land grabs, which will cost local communities still 
more of their local revenues and economic activity.
  We are promised that PILT funding will be restored in the farm bill, 
which is little consolation. That is the bill that continues to provide 
massive subsidies to agribusiness at the expense of both taxpayers and 
consumers.
  I am not unmindful of the challenges that faced the Appropriations 
Committee--not the least of which is that the measure must ultimately 
have the consent of the Senate and the President, which are responsible 
for the most fiscally irresponsible period of our Nation's history. I 
understand that.
  Under our Constitution, a dollar cannot be spent by this government 
unless the House says it gets spent. The buck literally starts here. As 
long as we continue to increase spending on frivolous programs at the 
expense of working families, and at a time when our accumulated debt 
threatens to sink what is left of our economy, we are clearly moving 
this Nation in the wrong direction.
  I appreciate the fact this is a bipartisan agreement, but a 
bipartisan agreement that moves our country in the wrong direction is 
still wrong.
  With all due respect, I must dissent.

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