[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21311]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 WE MUST GET OUR FISCAL HOUSE IN ORDER

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. SCOTT DesJARLAIS

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2011

  Mr. DesJARLAIS. Mr. Speaker, I have made it clear from the beginning 
that until the Senate leadership can pass a budget, the House should be 
using the baseline off of the framework included in the House-passed 
2012 budget. The Path to Prosperity is a credible and commonsense 
proposal that would put our nation on the path to balanced budgets and 
debt reduction.
  Unfortunately, the spending levels set forth in today's omnibus 
appropriations package exceed those numbers established in the Path to 
Prosperity. For this reason, I had to cast my vote against the 
legislation considered in the House today.
  It is impossible to get our nation's fiscal house in order unless we 
have a budget framework to work off of. House Republicans have done 
their job and passed a budget, it is now time for Senate Democrats to 
do the same.
  My constituents sent me to Washington to make the difficult spending 
decisions, and I'm more than willing to make them. Continuing 
Resolutions and omnibus packages are not the sort of bold action that 
the people in Tennessee's Fourth Congressional District expect. I 
applaud efforts by the House Leadership in which a number of our 
appropriations bills were considered this year under regular order and 
under open rules which allowed for debate and amendments. 
Unfortunately, this process was unable to be completed and many of the 
bills passed by the House have simply languished in the Senate without 
consideration.
  I am hopeful that United States Congress will restart a process in 
which budgets are passed and the 12 appropriations bills are considered 
in an open process. Omnibus bills are unpopular to our constituents. 
They invite poor legislating and lead to increased spending. Our 
constituents expect and deserve more.
  I have made a commitment to continue the fight for long-term 
solutions to rein in Washington's out-of-control spending, and I am 
appreciative of the constituents in the Fourth District of Tennessee 
who have sent me to Washington to do that very thing.

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