Providing for Consideration of H. Con. Res. 85, Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2010

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H. CON. RES. 85, CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 -- (House of Representatives - April 01, 2009)

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Mr. McGOVERN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, H. Res. 305 provides for general debate on H. Con. Res. 85, the budget resolution for fiscal year 2010. Madam Speaker, I am honored to stand here today to introduce the fiscal year 2010 House budget resolution.

I want to thank my friend, the Budget Committee Chairman JOHN SPRATT, for all of his incredible work on this budget. He is smart, he is fair, and no one cares more about these issues.

I also want to thank our ranking member, PAUL RYAN. Even though I often disagree with him, I admire his intellect and his dedication to his principles. I thought we had a spirited, substantive debate in the Budget Committee, and I am sure we will have more of the same here on the House floor.

I also would like to thank the staff of the Budget Committee, Democrat and Republican, for their tireless effort and their commitment to public service.

Madam Speaker, the budget before us today represents a clean break from the past. For the last 8 years, President Bush flat out mismanaged the Federal budget. How? By enacting huge tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that led to skyrocketing deficits, by spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without paying for them, and by refusing to invest in the American people.

In November, the American people said ``enough,'' and they voted for change. They voted for new direction. And that is what this budget is all about. We are not only turning the page on the last 8 years, we are writing a whole new book, and our budget cuts the deficit by more than half by 2013. It cuts taxes for middle-income families by $1.5 trillion. It creates jobs by investing in health care, clean energy, and education.

Now, let me briefly outline those three areas: Fiscal discipline, middle-class tax cuts, and investments in the American people.

As I said, our budget will cut the deficit by more than half in 2013. In order to get us back on a fiscally sustainable path, the budget provides a realistic assessment of our fiscal outlook.

Unlike the Bush administration, we actually budget for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of hiding them under, quote, emergency spending categories. We budget for natural disasters that inevitably will occur.

Our budget cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans. Let me repeat that, Madam Speaker, because we are going to hear a lot of rhetoric from the other side about taxes. The Democratic budget, the Obama budget cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans. It provides immediate relief from the alternative minimum tax, it eliminates the estate tax in nearly all the States, and works to close corporate tax loopholes.

You see, all of us believe in altering the Tax Code. We believe that we should reduce the tax burden on the middle class and those trying to get into the middle class. We believe that corporations shouldn't be allowed to shirk their responsibility by hiding their profits in offshore tax havens. The other side believes we should reduce taxes for the very wealthiest. It is a simple difference of philosophy. And, most importantly, this budget actually invests in the American people.

What a welcome change from the past 8 years. We invest in health care reform, not just to improve health care quality and improve coverage, but to reduce the crushing burden of health care costs on American businesses. Everybody likes to talk about health care reform. This budget, the Democratic budget, the Obama budget actually gets it done.

We invest in clean energy in order to create jobs, improve the environment, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Everybody likes to talk about energy independence, but this budget actually gets it done.

We invest in education to reclaim our place as the best educated workforce in the world. We work to expand early childhood education and to make college more affordable. Everybody likes to talk about improving education, but this budget actually gets it done.

So that is what we could do, and that is what we do. As for my Republican friends, it is more of the same. Last week, they made a big to-do when they introduced their own ``budget.'' In fact, it wasn't much of a budget at all, given the fact that it didn't include any numbers. What it did include was lots of empty rhetoric and a belief in massive tax cuts for the wealthiest.

Madam Speaker, the American people have seen this movie before, and they gave it two thumbs down. I know it is April Fool's Day, but don't be fooled by my Republican friends.

My Republican friends will talk a lot about the difference in economic growth estimates between the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office, but here is the thing: There will be no growth unless we invest in the American people. There will be no growth unless we get a handle on these deficits. There will be no growth as long as health care costs and inadequate education and dependence on foreign oil keeps us down.

I know that change is hard. I know my Republican friends want to cling desperately to the failed policies of the past. But the good news is that despite all the nasty press releases and television ads and talk radio attacks on the President, the American people still, by overwhelming margins, support President Obama's vision for America. That is why this budget is so very important.

We are presenting a budget, Madam Speaker, with a conscience. It is a budget that believes in the American spirit, and it is a budget that fulfills the promises that President Obama made to the American people.

We are at a crucial moment, Madam Speaker. Our country can meet its potential. Our children can have a better future. But in order to make that happen, we need a change. We need to move in a bold, innovative, new direction. We need to pass this budget. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this rule and the underlying bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I want to point out for my colleagues one important fact that I think we need to keep in mind. When President Bush became President of the United States, he inherited a record surplus of $5.6 trillion over 10 years. He left us with a record deficit of $5.8 trillion, with double the national debt and triple the amount held by foreign countries. We were left with flat wages and the smallest rate of job growth in three-quarters of a century. We tried it the gentleman's way. And it failed. People do not want the status quo. They do not want the same old same old.

There is a general understanding amongst the American people that in order for us to be able to reduce our deficit and pay down our debt, we need to grow this economy. And you cannot grow this economy unless you invest in the American people and unless you invest in the economy.

I am happy to yield to the gentleman.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Reclaiming my time, I appreciate that, and I would point to the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that went mostly to the wealthy that bankrupted this Nation.

The fact of the matter is the gentleman's party controlled Congress for many years. His party controlled the White House for many years. And jointly, they have driven this economy into a ditch. I think there are philosophical differences here. And I think one of the major differences is that we believe that in order to be able to pay down the debt, we need to grow this economy. And to grow this economy in these difficult times means investing in our people and everything from education to health care to environmental technologies.

The Republican budget is really the same old same old, more tax cuts for the wealthy, and basically, an indifference towards some of the Nation's most pressing problems. You cannot rebuild roads and bridges for nothing. We can't just simply constantly put the burden of education, the cost of education, and special education in particular, on the backs of our cities and towns. There needs to be an understanding that in order to get this economy back up and running, we are going to need to invest. And that is what the Democratic budget does.

I stand before you proud to defend this budget, proud of the fact that we have a budget that has a conscience, proud of the fact that when this gets enacted, we are going to have a blueprint for this country that I believe will not only put us back on the road to economic recovery but will allow us to pay down our deficits and our debt.

As I said in my opening statement, the House budget slashes the deficit by nearly two-thirds over the next 4 years, from $1.7 trillion or 12.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2009 to $586 billion, or 3.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2013.

I would reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, the gentlelady talks about compassion. I don't see a lot of compassion in the Republican budget. In fact, I haven't seen a lot of compassion in the Republican policies over the last 8 years. We are living in a country where there are 36 million Americans who are hungry, millions of whom are children. Where is the compassion? Where is the response? We have kids going to schools that are falling apart, where the heat works in the summer but doesn't work in the winter. Where is the compassion to make sure that our kids get the education that they deserve? We have a world where the environment is becoming the key issue, the issue of global climate change. We are giving our kids that kind of world? Where is the compassion there? If you want compassion, it is in the Democratic budget, which is not only compassionate but is fiscally responsible and will give our kids the kind of future they deserve.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I would just say to the gentleman who just spoke that we've tried it his way and his way failed. Our economy is in the worst shape it has been in my lifetime, probably in the worst shape since the Great Depression. The policies that they have pursued for the last 8 years have failed. The American people, in the election in November, made it very clear they want to move in a different direction.

The budget that we are presenting here today, that the Democrats are proudly presenting here today, not only turns the page, but writes a whole new book on the way this country should move forward. We're going to tackle the big problems of global warming and of health care. We're going to deal with health care once and for all, and not only in a way that provides people with the quality care that they deserve and they are entitled to, but also helps control costs. We have ignored these big problems for far too long.

So I stand before you again, Madam Speaker, proud to say that the Democratic budget, the budget that has been inspired by President Obama, is the right budget for this country. And there is a clear choice. I mean, I think we could agree on one thing, that there is a very clear choice. We can either go the way the Republicans want us to go or the way the Democrats want us to go. And I think we have tried the Republican way, and it has failed.

I reserve my time.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, let me reiterate that we find ourselves in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We find ourselves in this position in large part because of the very reckless policies of the last 8 years, policies that have been championed by President Bush and by the Republicans when they were in the majority.

And I want to commend the Republicans for actually introducing a budget alternative to the Rules Committee because, up until just today, what they handed out was a brochure with not a lot of numbers in it, a lot of criticism of Democrats. But I look forward to----

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Mr. McGOVERN. Reclaiming my time, what they did last week was produce a document that was basically a political piece that had no numbers in it and was basically an attack on the President and on the Democratic budget.

Now, we have been able to take a cursory look at some of the things that are in the Republican budget alternative, and if you would note----

Mr. DREIER. Will the gentleman yield very briefly for a question?

Mr. McGOVERN. I am happy to yield to the gentleman for a question.

Mr. DREIER. Is the gentleman trying to argue that we have not submitted a budget with real alternatives and simply provided a political statement?

Mr. McGOVERN. I am saying that I am glad that the gentleman, the Republicans have submitted a budget to the Rules Committee today----

Mr. DREIER. Good. Thank you.

Mr. McGOVERN. Because up until today we had a political brochure.

But anyway, a cursory look at what they presented, there are some substantial cuts in some very essential programs. They're talking about a $38.5 billion cut in agriculture. Well, what are they going to cut? Are they going to cut food stamps and nutrition programs to people who are suffering and struggling during these terrible economic times?

A $22.7 billion cut to education and labor. Are they going to cut schools more? Are we going to cut money for special education?

I mean, there are some significant programs that will have to be cut as a result of what they're proposing.

Energy and Commerce, a $666.1 billion cut. What are they going to cut, Medicare and Medicaid?

Billions of dollars in Financial Services. Where are the cuts going to come from? Housing for low-income people? Is that the idea of what a compassionate budget is about?

Ways and Means, billions and billions of dollars of cuts for the Ways and Means Committee, again, going into Medicare, you know, programs that help vulnerable senior citizens.

Madam Speaker, I think people are tired of the same old same old. And let me tell you what the old way was. The old way was to ignore health care. That's why we have such a mess with health care today.

The old way was to ignore education. That's why we have so many schools that are crumbling. That's why we're understaffed in terms of our teachers. That's why schools don't have the technology that they all should have.

The old way is to give tax breaks to millionaires. The old way was to continue to rely on foreign oil.

The budget that the Democrats are proudly presenting today puts us in a very new direction, in a direction that I think the American people are excited about. That is what this last election was about.

People will have their opportunity to vote for the Republican budget or the Democratic budget, whatever they want to do. But please know one thing. What they are proposing is what they have been proposing consistently for as long as I have been here.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Our budget actually goes after subsidies for wealthy farmers, but it does not go after food stamps for the vulnerable.

The Republican budget that has been proposed makes dramatic cuts in some of the most essential and valuable programs that serve the most vulnerable people in our country.

Mr. DREIER. Where in our budget does it say we are going after food stamps?

Mr. McGOVERN. We are faced with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and what they propose is the same old same old. Enough. Enough.

Mr. DREIER. Will my friend yield for just one second?

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, the Democratic budget moves us in a different direction, in one that, I think, the American people want us to move.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the previous question and on the rule.

I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

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