House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen made the following statement on the release of the President’s budget request:

"As outlined in the Constitution, the Congress, not the Executive Branch, has the ‘power of the purse.’ My Committee takes this responsibility very seriously. It is our job to analyze the request, go through each and every budget line, question every witness, and demand spending justifications on behalf of the taxpayers who are footing the bill. Only then can Congress put forward our own plan to fund the federal government, ensuring the wise investment of taxpayer dollars on important programs while trimming back or eliminating waste and duplication.

"The Appropriations Committee has already begun this process, and it will continue rapidly over the next weeks and months. We intend to work as quickly as possible – while maintaining the highest standard of responsibility – to complete the fiscal year 2018 Appropriations bills in a timely fashion. It is up to this Congress to provide needed proper funding to federal programs to maintain our national security and to uphold our common American values.”

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