Conference Report on S. Con. Res. 21, Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2008

Floor Speech

CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. CON. RES. 21, CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 -- (House of Representatives - May 17, 2007)

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Mr. HOYER. I thank my friend for yielding.

As my friend from Wisconsin has heard me say so often, I am at once amused, and at the same time deeply disappointed because I have watched an unending series of young, earnest, very bright Republican leaders stand on this floor or stand in the OMB or in the White House, led by David Stockman, and then John Kasich, then Jim Nussle, and now PAUL RYAN, all very able representatives who served in this body, who come before us and assert, with a certitude that is unflappable, that they have the answer to bringing economic well-being to America.

During that 26 years that I have observed those serious, I believe, conscientious young men make that representation, without fail they have presented budgets that have put this country, without exception, every year of their budgets $4.1 trillion further in debt. And then they said in 1993, when we adopted an economic program sent down by President Clinton, ``this is going to destroy our country.'' They called it the largest tax increase in history. They were, of course, not telling the truth. That was not the fact.

In fact, the largest tax increase that has occurred in this country since I have been in Congress, in terms of real dollars, was the Dole-Reagan tax increase in the early 1980s.

So I come before this House to say I hope the American people will understand that the representation we have just heard has been made over and over and over again. And the results of the policies promoted by that rhetoric have been unending and inevitable large deficits. In fact, of course, the revenues are substantially below, as the gentleman knows, the projections that were made.

Mr. Speaker, today the Members of this House can proudly vote for a budget conference report that addresses our Nation's critical needs on national security, education, health care, the environment and many other areas, while also making a 180-degree turn away from the most reckless fiscal policies in the history of our Nation.

My young friend from Wisconsin knows well that spending over the last 6 years was twice the rate of spending in terms of percentage increase under the Clinton years. Twice. Of course, the Republicans controlled the House, the Senate and the presidency, and spending was at twice the rate of growth that it was during the Clinton years.

I urge every Member of this House, on both sides of the aisle, to vote for this responsible Democratic budget conference report. It will be a change from the past, because we will adopt a budget, and I say you are probably even going to adopt appropriations bills, unlike last year.

First and foremost, this Democratic budget provides robust defense spending levels, because our national security is our highest priority. This budget provides more homeland security funding than the Bush administration requested. It funds the 9/11 Commission recommendations, and it increases funding for veterans health care and services by $6.7 billion.

We talk about supporting our troops. If we support our troops, we need to honor our veterans, and we need to honor our veterans with more than just talk. We need to make sure that their health care is provided. This budget does that. In fact, this budget is $3.6 billion more than the President requested. Of course, he requested that before Walter Reed, before the long lines, before the American public was aware of how underfunded veterans health care is.

Furthermore, after 6 years of fiscal irresponsibility, this budget will bring our budget back into balance in 2012. President Reagan, President Bush I and the 7 years of Bush II, never one balanced budget year in those 19 years. During the Clinton administration, 4, half of the budget years had surpluses.

Now, the great falsehood, the great deceit, the great misrepresentation perpetrated by many of our friends on the other side of the aisle is that the budget somehow raises taxes. That is simply and absolutely untrue.

Now, the Republicans pride themselves on not raising taxes. They simply borrow money from the Chinese, the Japanese, the Saudis, the Germans. In fact, they borrowed over $1.2 trillion over the last 6 1/2 years to fund their spending increases.

It is somewhat humorous, I think, that our Republican friends are claiming that this budget raises taxes by failing to extend cuts that the Republicans themselves designed to expire in 2010. By their logic, last year, when the Republicans still controlled both Chambers of this Congress and chose not to extend the taxes, in your budget proposal, remember that, my friends on the other side of the aisle, you did not suggest extending these tax cuts. It is ridiculous.

Don't take it from me, just listen to the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution, which yesterday stated, ``The budget conference report would not raise taxes. If anything, the budget resolution assumes that Congress will cut taxes.''

This is true. In fact, Mr. Speaker, the budget accommodates the extension of middle income tax cuts, as the chairman has said, and provides immediate relief for middle income taxpayers affected by the Alternative Minimum Tax. We want to fix the Alternative Minimum Tax. In fact we want to fix it by giving 81 million Americans a tax cut.

In addition, this budget increases funding for Head Start, LIHEAP, accommodates a $50 billion increase to cover millions of uninsured children, and rejects the administration's harmful cuts to environmental programs.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, for our friends on the other side to complain that this budget provides for an increase in the debt ceiling strains credibility. The rule that is in this bill was in your budgets repeatedly.

In just 6 years, this administration and Republican Congress turned a projected budget surplus of $5.6 trillion into an over $3 trillion deficit, an $8.6 trillion turnaround to the red side of the budget on your watch when you controlled all of the levers of this House. And you raised the debt ceiling 4 years in a row.

The new Democratic majorities in this Congress have inherited a fiscal debacle that today, through this conference report, we can begin to address and make right. This is a budget that we can be proud of, and it stands in stark contrast to the extraordinarily irresponsible policies of the last 6 years.

I urge all of my colleagues, vote for fiscal responsibility and a brighter future for our children and for our country. Vote for this Democratic budget.

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I don't have it in front of me, but what your budget did was you assumed that the tax cuts were going to be extended. You did not extend them in your budget legally, which you could have done under the rules. You claim you didn't do it initially because of the rules in the Senate. I think that is accurate.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Well, I can go back into that, but I think we have belabored the point.

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his work, I thank him for yielding me the time, and I urge a yes vote on this responsible, effective budget for our country.

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