mr. scalise: madam chair, i'm prepared to close. the chair: the gentleman will -- mr. scalise: i'll reserve. the chair: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, madam chairman. i will not use the time. as i said, what this amendment requests is information that in fact the president already provides as part of the budget submission. i indicated i have in my hand the information from last fiscal year's budget. i do think in point and in pursuit of transparency it's important to point out when the president was first sworn in his first term, before he put his hand on the bible, he faced a projected deficit of well over $1 trillion, a record deficit at that time. as we saw from the congressional budget office in their report just the other day, that deficit is now coming down as the economy's improved and as the president's policies have begun to take shape, that deficit is on its way down. is it far enough down? no. there's a legitimate debate as to the best way to get there. as part of that debate, certainly the more information the better, a

mr. scalise. the chair: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for two minutes. mr. scalise: thank you, mr. chairman, and i want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from georgia, for yielding and for bringing forward the require a plan act. you know when our colleagues on the other side talk about games and all of these things that are frustrating and angering the american people, what angers them the most when they don't see washington doing their job. the law says the president, the house and the senate have to produce a budget. and the house has met its legal obligation the last two years. the senate, they've failed to produce a budget in four years. and the president has missed his legal deadline four of the last five years. one of my colleagues said that somehow it's the republicans' fault this year that the president didn't produce the budget on time. well, ok, if that's the case, then that means three of the other four years is he going to blame, like, maybe the dog ate his homework or maybe blame it on president bush? at some point this president's got to tak

mr. scalise. the chair: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for two minutes. mr. scalise: thank you, mr. chairman, and i want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from georgia, for yielding and for bringing forward the require a plan act. you know when our colleagues on the other side talk about games and all of these things that are frustrating and angering the american people, what angers them the most when they don't see washington doing their job. the law says the president, the house and the senate have to produce a budget. and the house has met its legal obligation the last two years. the senate, they've failed to produce a budget in four years. and the president has missed his legal deadline four of the last five years. one of my colleagues said that somehow it's the republicans' fault this year that the president didn't produce the budget on time. well, ok, if that's the case, then that means three of the other four years is he going to blame, like, maybe the dog ate his homework or maybe blame it on president bush? at some point this president's got to tak