Statement on Action by the House of Representatives on Federal Budget Legislation

As I have been traveling today, very distressing news has reached me from Washington, D.C.

In my absence, it seems that the Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives have agreed to go forward with a scheme tomorrow morning that would effectively sabotage our attempts to cut Federal spending.

I have asked the House leadership to let us have a single up-or-down vote on our bipartisan package of spending cuts.

Instead, the leaders want to splinter that package into pieces. They are pursuing a divide and conquer strategy—a strategy that would once again allow special interest groups to triumph over the general economic interest of the nation.

This parliamentary scheme is unacceptable to me and, I am sure, to the great majority of the American people.

We now have the best opportunity in years to achieve real change in this country. We just can't surrender it to back room politics in the Halls of Congress.

Time is now short; the House promises to bring this issue to a vote as early as tomorrow morning.

I want the American people to understand that if they want to bring real change in Washington—if they want real reductions in spending—this is the time to speak up. This is the time to be heard.