Conference Report on S. Con. Res. 95, Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2005

CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. CON. RES. 95, CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005 -- (House of Representatives - May 19, 2004)

Mr. NUSSLE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 649, I call up the conference report on the Senate concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 95) setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2005 and including the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2006 through 2009.

The Clerk read the title of the Senate concurrent resolution.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 649, the conference report is considered as having been read.

(For conference report and statement, see proceedings of the House of Tuesday, May 18, 2004.)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of talk about the economy on that side of the aisle. I do not blame them. I would not talk about this budget either. I, frankly, would not talk much about the economy either. A net loss of jobs to this date. Does anybody want to dispute that? Apparently not.

Let none of us be mistaken about what we are witnessing here on the floor today. Mr. Speaker, as important as the budget debate is at a time of record deficits, at a time of exploding debt, at a time of war, this debate is about far more than the budget. This debate marks the death, in time and place, of the so-called Republican revolution.

Ten years ago, the Republican Party recaptured the majority on a pledge of reform and a wave of hot rhetoric. Today, with this, and I use this word advisedly, dishonest, phony, political Band-Aid that the majority wants to call a budget, they, for all intents and purposes, are raising the white flag of surrender and announcing to all of America: We Republicans simply cannot govern. We Republicans simply cannot fulfill one of our most basic responsibilities, to pass a real, honest budget. We Republicans have been so blinded by our tax cut ideology, that we do not recognize the irresponsibility and, yes, the immorality of policies that force our children and grandchildren to pay our bills.

Mr. Speaker, this 1-year Republican budget is simply not credible. It brazenly attempts to conceal the record deficits that Republican policies have created and the fact that they have no plan to rein in those deficits. In fact, for the 1 year it does cover, it projects a deficit of $367 billion.

It conceals the fact that Republicans are robbing the Social Security trust fund to pay for Republican tax cuts skewed toward the highest-income taxpayers.

It conceals the fact they would freeze domestic priorities, such as health care and the environment, and cut them drastically in the future.

And it conceals the fact that this conference report would increase the statutory debt limit by $690 billion.

And not one of my colleagues on that side of the aisle has the courage to stand up and vote for that increase. Not one.

I have been here long enough to hear my colleagues railing about increasing the debt. Last year, my colleagues increased it even more, without a vote. It was increased to almost as much as the entire debt from 1789 to 1981 at the time I came to Congress. It was $981 billion then, and my Republican colleagues increased it $940-plus billion last year and another $670 in this budget.

So, Republicans, my friends, when you vote on this budget, know that you are voting to increase the debt by $670 billion.

This budget also conceals the fact that this conference report would lead us into further debt of $8 trillion.

[Time: 19:45]

Yet under the Hastert rule, there will be no debate and no vote on that action.

Mr. Speaker, with this conference report, the majority demonstrates its inability to govern and refuses to address the problems that its own policies have created. This is the last gasp of the revolution. I do not think that they will accept it on the other side, certainly they should not; and I do not think they will. I urge my colleagues to vote against this conference report.

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