The Federal Budget

Floor Speech

THE FEDERAL BUDGET

Mr. WALBERG. Right now, taxpayers in south central Michigan are making tough choices every day to ensure their family budgets are balanced. They do so by cutting spending and having fiscal discipline. It's time we make these same commonsense choices on a Federal level.

This week in the House, we will begin debating a budget plan for the fiscal year 2008. A budget proposal introduced by my colleagues on the opposite side of the aisle would impose the largest tax increase in American history, nearly $400 billion over the next 5 years. Their plan would institute a $3,000 tax increase for every typical Michigander and put off needed entitlement reform for at least another 5 years.

Congress needs to pass a balanced budget bill without raising taxes. We need to make tax relief permanent for hardworking American families and reform unsustainable entitlements. The American people long for a Congress that puts our fiscal house in order on a Federal level, but they want this done without expanding the size and scope of the Federal Government.

I urge my colleagues to oppose any budget plan that proposes a ``spend now, reform later'' mentality.

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