Statement of Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) On The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005

Statement of Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) On The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (S. 1932)

Washington, D.C. - Mr. Speaker, unfortunately for the American people, this reconciliation spending conference report arrives back in this chamber substantially unimproved from its original form.

Notwithstanding modest revisions in areas like food stamps, low income heating assistance and physician reimbursement under Medicare, this package represents a warped vision for America: take from those with the least, give to those with the most and tell our children they will have to pay for it all later.

It would be a disgraceful document at any time of the year, but seems particularly Scrooge-like during this holiday season.

Take Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which this conference report slashes by $6.9 billion. The cost-sharing and premium increases mandated by this legislation fall entirely on the poor -- who have no other way to access basic health care for themselves and their families.

Or the $2.6 billion in cuts for child support enforcement, foster care and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), designed to assist single parents, foster children and the disabled. Setting aside the immorality of deliberately targeting the most vulnerable among us, child support enforcement dollars actually save the government money through reduced public assistance costs.

Then there's higher education, whose $12.7 billion cut accounts for about a third of this $39.7 billion conference agreement. Though $1.6 billion less than the House's original draconian proposal, $12.7 billion remains the single largest cut to student aid in the forty year history of the Higher Education Act. The resulting increase in interest rates, fees and other charges represents an unprecedented disinvestment in our students and their families -- at precisely the time our young people are going to need that education the most.

We already know that college graduates earn $1 million more over their lifetimes than their cohorts who do not attend college, which gives taxpayers a tremendous return on their federal financial aid investment. Additionally, over the course of this past year scores of CEOs from across the country have repeatedly told this Congress that a highly educated workforce is a critical prerequisite for maintaining America's competitive advantage in the knowledge, information and innovation economy of the 21st century.

Given these realities, it is the height of penny wise, pound foolish bean-counting to put college even further out of reach for the generation of Americans who will have to face these challenges. Yet that's precisely what this conference report does.

Mr. Speaker, while I commend the conferees for embracing the substantive reforms that I have long advocated regarding the need to end 9.5% guaranteed floor loans and strengthen oversight of schools acting as lenders, this progress does not begin to undo the damage done by the rest of the legislation.

The $40 billion in spending cuts in which tonight's proponents take such pride are in fact dwarfed by $110 billion in tax cuts this same Congress proposes to enact this year - tax cuts whose benefits flow disproportionately to the wealthiest in our society.

That's right. When all is said and done, the so-called Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and its accompanying tax legislation will actually increase the deficit by at least $70 billion over the next five years.

Mr. Speaker, this fiscal policy is irresponsible and it is unjust. I urge my colleagues to vote no, and I yield back the balance of my time.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/md08_vanhollen/S_1932.html