Date: 2011-01-06
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. today is a momentous day. We are all here together as Members of a new Congress and. more importantly. at the cusp of a new era in Americas political life. I find it humbling and most appropriate that while yesterday we were ceremonially sworn in in this historic House Chamber and appropriately voted on a transparencyenhancing rules package. today we began our proceedings with a reading of the United States Constitution. The Constitution not only establishes our polity and our framework of government. it enshrines as our fundamental law the proper role of government. Mr. Speaker. as we promised in our Pledge to America. todays reading was an affirmation of our commitment to return this government back to its proper rolea smaller. less costly. more accountable one. Mr. Speaker. the resolution before us. introduced by my colleague from Oregon. is extremely important to todays affirmation. And it is no accident that this is our first piece of legislative business in this the 112th Congress. This legislation is significant because. along with our other activities here on the House floor this week. this bill committing ourselves to a more responsible and efficient stewardship of the taxpayers dollars demonstrates. we hope. to the American people that we are listening. Mr. Speaker. the peoples House should act first and lead by example. Everybody knows that across this country families and small businesses have cut their spending. are paying off their debt. and are striving to live within their means. We should do the same. and this legislation is a beginning. It will do that by having an immediate impact. and I would like to thank the gentleman from Oregon and his transition team for their hard work and their constructive ideas. Under this resolution. each leadership. committee and Member office in the 112th Congress will receive no more than 95 percent of its 111th Congress funding level. In fiscal year 2011. this will mean a savings of $1 million from leadership offices. a savings of $8.1 million from committee budgets. and a savings of $26.1 million from. collectively. the Members office budgets. For those who may not know. the Members office budgets are the specific amounts that are given to Members so that they can carry out their functions as Members of Congress. It includes the ability to communicate with their constituents. it includes paying for their staff. it includes paying for their transportation from their district to Washington. D.C. and back. it includes the rental on their district offices. In other words. it is the money that is utilized for Members to carry out their official activities. These are important jobs that Members are required to do if in fact we are to represent our people appropriately. Nonetheless. even though these are important things that we do. we should try to be even more efficient in the way that we do them. That is the purpose of this legislation before us. Mr. Speaker. these are substantial cuts in budgets. in budgets that frankly cannot continue indefinitely on an upward trajectory. We must all find ways to do more with less. to enhance our productivity. and to ferret out waste or inefficiencies wherever they may be. With that being said. this initial savings is only a down payment on future efforts. My colleagues and I on House Administration are dedicated to continuing savings and reductions in spending in other areas as well. Thus. for fiscal year 2012. we have committed to keeping this 5 percent reduction in place. We are also directing all House officers. such as the Clerk. the Sergeant at Arms and the Chief Administrative Officer. to find savings within their own organizations without sacrificing their services and the excellence they pride themselves on maintaining. in other words. to do what all Americans are attempting in their own lives. finding ways to do more with less. We look forward to hearing from these and other House offices in specificity as to what their costsavings plans will be. As has been said by our Speaker. we have committed to cutting domestic spending and returning nonsecurity discretionary spending to 2008 levels. If we could live on that level of spending a mere 2 years ago. surely we can find ways to do so again. Again. American families are doing it. American businesses are doing it. We must try as well. Mr. Speaker. listening to the American people and restoring the proper role of government means decreasing spending. ending our deficit mentality. and fostering job creation. These are the virtues that have made this country great and will sustain us in the future. I want to publicly thank my colleague from Oregon and his transition team for the efforts that they have put into this legislation. and I would urge all of my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.