Alan Nunnelee

Mr. Speaker, the most important function of our government is to provide for the common defense. That is why I am pleased that the National Defense Authorization Act blocks the administration's end strength reduction proposal, as well as redistribution of important National Guard aviation assets. But I do have some specific concerns.

Of specific concern of this misguided and shortsighted proposal is the impact on the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Heavy Brigade Combat Team. This unit has a proven history of defending freedom abroad. But recently, when our State was hit by devastating tornados, these were the first responders. They provided vital security and search and rescue. I commend these men and women that make up the 155th and express my concern for the support of their mission.

Congress cannot balance our budget on the backs of the men and women voluntarily serving our country, nor expect their families, who already give so much, to make further sacrifices.

To find areas within our Federal Government to responsibly cut, we must look at all forms of Federal spending, not just the discretionary spending alone.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for yielding. I too rise in support of H.R. 4268.

In Mississippi, U.S. Highway 78 cuts diagonally through the foothills of the Appalachians to Memphis. This is the highway that our most famous native son, Elvis Presley, took as he made his way from his hometown and my hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi, to find his way to Sun Studio in Memphis.

While there were others whose careers may not nearly have been so visible, they made the same road. People came home from World War II, and they felt their only option in Mississippi was to leave to find a better way of life for their families, so they made their way to Memphis and then north.

For the three decades following the end of World War II, they settled in and around the Great Lakes. There were small towns in Illinois and Wisconsin that had neighborhoods literally dotted with families from Mississippi, neighborhoods in Waukegan and Zion, Aurora and Kenosha and Racine; and you go on the streets, and you find people from Baldwyn and Marietta, Mantachie and Booneville.

In recent years, we have had a renaissance of advanced manufacturing in Mississippi. This growth has been driven by regional cooperation among our local leaders, tough decisions that were made at the State level, but it has been primarily driven by the strong work ethic of those same people from Appalachia.

In fact, a few months ago, I was visiting in one of the advanced manufacturing facilities involved in automobile manufacturing parts, talking to a man in Mantachie. He smiled, and he said: The great news about this job is I got to come home.

In order to accommodate all this new growth, we found it important to upgrade U.S. Highway 78 and make it Interstate 22. A lot of work has been done by Federal, State, and local stakeholders.

We are about ready to make that transition, but there is one more

change that needs to be completed. A small tweak in the law is necessary.

While advanced manufacturing is a very important part of our economy, agriculture is still a very important part of our economy as well.

Under the existing law, ag products on the way to the market have to obtain a permit that they can carry an additional 5 percent weight on U.S. Highway 78. In the absence of that bill, that permit would not be available.

To make it clear, this bill is no loss, no gain. The roadway that is in use today is the exact same roadway that will be used as Interstate 22. The mile markers, as you have heard, are specified in the legislation. There is not one additional vehicle that can legally travel this road under this law that would be able to do so under a new law.

That is why I urge passage of this bill. I want to thank the ranking member, I want to thank the chairman, and I also want to thank the senior member of the Mississippi delegation for his cooperation in making this possible.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Chairman Ryan for yielding, but, more importantly, thank him for his work and leadership in this area.

Tonight around America, families will sit down at the kitchen table to talk about their family finances. And there always seem to be more needs than there are dollars in a paycheck. So those families will sit down. They may shed tears tonight, and they may have some tense words between them, but before the night is over, they will sit down and make tough decisions about how they will spend their family's budget.

Just last week, the State legislature in my State adjourned, but before they did, they made some tough choices. They weren't able to fund everything they wanted to fund, and they had to set priorities. Local governments and county governments are making tough choices.

When it comes to American families sitting around their kitchen table, if the State legislature, if city governments and county governments are making those tough choices, they have every reason to expect their government in Washington to do the same thing. And for 4 years now, under the leadership of Chairman Ryan, we have put forward a budget that does make these tough but necessary decisions about getting control of our Federal spending.

That is why I am proud to join my colleagues and vote for a budget that responsibly cuts $5.1 trillion over the next 10 years by reforming the main drivers of our debt--targeting wasteful spending. At the same time, this budget seeks to expand opportunity to help the private sector create jobs by highlighting policies that will grow the economy.

Meanwhile, the administration wants to take more money out of the paychecks of hardworking Americans by raising their taxes, wants to spend more money, and wants to borrow more money from successive generations and never balance the budget.

This administration has made all sorts of promises it can't keep. For example, the Congressional Budget Office says that Pell grants will begin to have a shortfall in 2016 and every year thereafter. Medicare? My mom and dad

worked all of their life, paid into a program, and their government made them a promise. They said that, when you get to retirement age, we are going to provide you health care; yet the actuarial models say that program is going bankrupt, and the administration doesn't deal with it.

This budget does make tough decisions and makes tough choices. And the critics? They call this budget draconian. Only in Washington is making a tough choice labeled as being controversial.

It is important that we make these decisions and put our government back on a path of sustainable finances to grow our economy. By making these tough choices, we ensure our children and our grandchildren a better future because we are doing more than just balancing a budget. We are living out the American Dream. Beating in the heart of every American since this country was founded is the desire to leave a better way of life to successive generations, not saddle those generations with massive amounts of debt.

So, for those reasons, I support this budget, and I urge my colleagues to support this budget, as well.