PIMA — The U.S. House of Representatives returns to session Sept. 12, and Arizona Congressman Juan Ciscomani said spending has to be the top priority.
“We have to pass a budget. We have to spend less next year than we did the last year,” he told Gila Valley Central. “The fiscal direction of the country is not on track where it needs to be. And we ran on this notion, this promise, to curb that spending and prioritize the right projects. There’s going to be a real battle around the budget.”
Despite a Sept. 30 deadline, Ciscomani said he believes it’s possible to work out a deal, despite the fractions on both sides of the aisle.
“What we all have to come to the table with — every side of both sides — is that we may not get everything you want out of this, but we have to keep moving in the right direction” Ciscomani said.
“If we’re willing to start this process immediately, of getting in the right direction, that’s what we have to go with,” he continued. “So I’m going to be a glass-half-full kind of guy. There is a lot of opportunity to be pessimistic (but) I have to stay optimistic.”
The last time Congress passed a budget before the start of a new fiscal year (Oct. 1) was 1996. The federal government is currently operating under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, which was signed by President Biden on Dec. 29, 2022.
