Department of Defense and Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Floor Speech

Madam Speaker, I am a Tea Partier. I was supported by the Tea Party. I have a Tea Party poster in my office. My constituents at home gave me a chain saw to use to cut the government spending. I am extremely pro-life. This CR will prohibit the use of Federal funds for abortions in D.C., and if I have to save the unborn one city at a time, I will. This CR will finally allow an up-or-down vote on the defunding of Planned Parenthood and ObamaCare in the Senate.

The fact that the last Congress did not pass a budget has left us in a mess, and sometimes we need to wring the mop out a few times to clean up the mess.

The bill we consider today cuts real money, money that would have surely been spent by the Democrats had we not taken control of this body. Do I think the cuts are big enough? No. But my mother used to warn me about being penny wise and pound foolish.

We have another problem: If we don't pass this CR, our brave men and women in uniform will not be paid. I am incensed that the President and Democrats in the Senate held the funding for our troops hostage until they cut this deal. I served in the National Guard for 11 years. As a veteran, I understand the sacrifices our brave men and women and their families make to preserve our freedom.

The Army Ranger Creed states, among other things, that they shall never fail their comrades, that they will never leave a fallen comrade, and they will not embarrass their country. Well, I will not fail them, I will not leave them, and I will not embarrass them and their families who are caught as political pawns in this game. We must not let this happen again.

I urge my colleagues to support the concurrent resolution, get the ball rolling, hang in there, wring out the mop this time, and together we continue to make history and clean up all the mess.

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