Below is the opening statement delivered by U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) to the House Budget Committee this afternoon. White House Budget Director Joshua Bolton briefed the committee this morning and afternoon on President Bush’s budget proposal.

The President’s $2.5 trillion budget, introduced on Monday, calls for increases in national and homeland security spending, while holding down spending in other parts of the federal government. The budget proposal serves as a model for the Senate and House as they generate their own proposals.

REP MCHENRY: “Thank you Mr. Chairman and I appreciate the opportunity to serve with you on the Budget Committee and look forward to a productive year.

Mr. Bolton I appreciate you being here today and I am sure you will be able to shed some light on the President’s proposal and hopefully offer some additional insights on where we might continue the President’s effort to reduce spending and shrink the deficit.

First, I applaud the President for showing true leadership and identifying some 150 federal programs that are duplicative or ineffective. These programs will save an estimated $20 billion in FY 2006 and reforms of mandatory programs could save up to $137 billion over the next 10 years.

The time has certainly come to restore fiscal discipline for the federal government and ensure that we leave our children and grandchildren a society based on opportunity and personal responsibility.

The President has given us a blueprint for spending that increases funding of national and homeland security. Having worked at the Department of Labor, I am especially looking forward to learning more about the new worker retraining initiatives that are crucial to my constituents in the 10th District of North Carolina.

I will fully support President Bush as he resists the calls from some circles to increase taxes. The President correctly recognizes that increasing taxes will only slow current economic expansion and further burden hard working Americans.

The reduction in non-defense, non-homeland security discretionary spending should now be followed by fiscal restraint in the growth of mandatory spending. Social Security and other programs must be reformed before the unfunded liabilities eat away at the economic security and opportunity of future generations.

Chairman Nussle, I hope the Committee will show similar leadership and have substantive discussions on the President’s budget and look for ways to reduce the size of the federal government without resorting to scare tactics that only distort the facts. The current deficit and looming crisis of Social Security demand that we take action and present reasonable and responsible budgets.

Thank you again Mr. Chairman and I look forward to working with you and the Committee in the next two months to pass a budget that provides the necessary federal resources without wasting the taxpayer’s hard earned money.”