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The Budget Deficit

Date: June 14, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Senior Citizens Entitlements and the Safety Net Health Insurance Government Budget and Spending


THE BUDGET DEFICIT

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I brought this chart along to explain to people what we mean by fiscal responsibility. When Democrats talk fiscal responsibility, we are talking about taking a deficit and turning it into a surplus. Republicans mean take the surplus and create a big deficit.

The 10-year budget, after the Republicans took over, changed a $5.5 trillion surplus to a $5.5 trillion deficit, a swing of $9 trillion. Before you start talking about the war, remember the $300 billion we spent on the war is $.3 trillion. We have had a $9 trillion deterioration. We can do better.

The Democratic Caucus has a better budget. The Congressional Black Caucus has a better budget. The Congressional Black Caucus budget, while the Republican budget is $163 billion in the hole, our budget is balanced.

We did it without increasing taxes on anyone making less than $200,000, and we spent $160 billion more on veterans benefits, education, health care and other priorities. We can obviously do better, and we must do better, because if we don't control the budget today, there will be no Social Security or Medicare in the future.

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