Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2010

Floor Speech

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 -- (House of Representatives - April 22, 2009)

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this resolution and a budget that addresses our Nation's priorities, confronts our economic crisis today, and makes critical investments in our long-term growth. With this budget, we have laid out a clear path to cut the deficit by nearly two-thirds and to cut taxes for middle-class Americans. It reduces wasteful spending while making long overdue investments to get our country back on track.

The truth is we cannot afford to wait. Failure to reform and invest have produced 8 years of the slowest growth in three-quarters of a century. Every day, I hear stories from my constituents. The single mother who lost her job and the health care coverage that went with it. Now she fights daily just to make sure her children can get the care they need to stay healthy.

To the small business owner, to stay afloat in a market where credit has become so tight, simply making payroll is not a sure thing.

The student who excelled in school but won't be going to college because he or she cannot afford it.

And the homeowner who worked and saved and did everything right, but still finds himself or herself underwater on the verge of foreclosure.

Our Nation owes its citizens far better. There will be no growth, no opportunity and no jobs unless we invest in our future. We cannot fix our economy unless we take concrete steps to create jobs, transition to a clean energy economy, make health care more affordable, and improve education, pursue true reform, get the big things right and focus on our national priorities. Focus on health care by addressing the burdens that the current health care system places on families, aiming to improve quality, efficiency and accountability of health care in order to control costs and provide resources to expand access.

There are no easy answers when it comes to making our health care system work for everyone, but one thing is clear: This is our window of opportunity. This budget is an essential first step to ensuring quality, affordable health care for all of our constituents. It gives us the flexibility to give people real choices when it comes to their health care; the choice to keep what they have now, or to have a new choice of a private or public health insurance plan.

Focus on education, the key to economic opportunity, especially in these tough economic times. When too many of our children and adults are not prepared to compete or when our region's workforce does not meet the demands our employers, our entire Nation suffers. This budget expands access and increases funding for early childhood education, creates a new tax credit to help cover college costs, and raises the Pell Grant award.

Focus on energy independence, because from rising prices to rising temperatures to the dangerous actions of hostile regimes abroad, one thing is clear: If we do not take action, young people today, not to mention their children and their grandchildren, will face dire consequences.

This budget builds a framework for developing and producing new energy and jobs, modernizing the electricity grid to make it more efficient, secure and reliable, increasing the efficiency of Federal buildings, and helping to make State and local governments more energy efficient.

Focus on infrastructure to create jobs for transportation, energy projects, maintaining highways, rebuilding bridges, transit and water systems. This budget lays the groundwork for a national infrastructure bank to give these projects the priority they deserve and the leveraged resources to maximize their impact, all to create good jobs that cannot be outsourced while spurring economic growth and keeping our Nation competitive.

No matter where we focus, our goals are clear: To move from recovery to growth. This budget builds on the powerful down payment we made with the recovery package that President Obama signed into law this spring.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand behind this responsible budget. It is the foundation of a strong economy, true reform and future growth.

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