First comes the press release from Congressman Don Manzullo explaining why he voted, “Yes.”

Manzullo Votes to Cut Spending $315 Billion Over 10 Years, Pay Troops and Avert Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON – Congressman Don Manzullo today voted for legislation that cuts spending by $38.5 billion through this September and $315 billion over 10 years, ensures our military forces are paid, and averts a government shutdown by funding the federal government for the rest of the year.

STATEMENT

Don Manzullo

“It has been an extremely difficult process trying to convince the President and Senate Democrats that our government is being swallowed up by debt and our nation is on the brink of economic disaster if we don’t start cutting spending significantly. Today’s legislation is a start on that path, but deeper cuts need to occur if we are going to improve our economy and allow our employers to put Americans back to work.

“The federal government will spend $1.6 trillion more this year than it collects in revenue. We borrow 40 cents on each dollar we spend. And the President’s ‘hold-the-line’ budget will increase our national debt from $14 trillion to $24 trillion the next 10 years. This has to stop in a big way. Today’s vote was about cutting billions of dollars, but the coming debate over the next budget will call for trillions of dollars of cuts. We have to get serious about cutting spending so we can improve our economy and help employers create jobs.”

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Next is Congressman Joe Walsh’s explanation of his “No” vote.

Congressman Walsh Issues Statement on His Vote Against FY11 Budget

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Joe Walsh (R-IL) issued the following statement on his vote against the budget for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011.

Joe Walsh

“Today was the toughest vote I had to make as a Member of Congress. I cannot give my Republican Leadership enough credit for garnering the best deal they could with a President who up until a week ago, was absent from the debate”. However, at the end of the day I have to vote No because I was sent here to change the way this town does business. And this bill contains too much business as usual.

There are only a few times in our country’s history when we have the opportunity to dramatically redirect where our country is heading. This by necessity is one of those times. We are now over $14t in debt, and this year alone we will add another $1.6 trillion dollars to that debt. ,

While these cuts are historic, they must be in context. While we were debating the size of cuts that ended up at $38.5 billion dollars, the country added another $220 billion dollars in debt in the month of February alone. While these cuts are clearly a step in the right direction, they were simply not bold or serious enough.

We had an opportunity this week to rise to the occasion of this historic moment and we blinked. I respect my leadership and applaud them for giving it their best. But I did not come here to blink…I was sent here to run to the mountaintop and yell for all the world to hear — we need to immediately stop spending money we don’t have or future generations will never forgive us”.

Last year, for the first time since the 1974 Budget Act, the Democrat-controlled Congress failed to propose or pass a budget.