Republicans' Irresponsible Spending Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the Republican spending bill currently before this House. This bill fails to create jobs, deeply hurts our families and seniors, and responds with extremes at a time when our fragile economy can least afford it.

I am committed to a budget that lives within our means while investing in the future and cutting our deficit. However, this irresponsible Republican spending bill hampers job creation and jeopardizes investments in American innovation, American education, and American infrastructure.

That is why President Obama vowed today to veto the irresponsible Republican spending bill because it undermines critical priorities for national security and curtails the drivers of long-term economic growth and job creation.

We must do more to focus on jobs, grow the economy, and protect our middle class, certainly, while responsibly tackling our Nation's debt and deficit. That is why I've offered 8 amendments to this bill which will protect seniors, protect energy innovation, strengthen our children's education, and most importantly, will protect and grow jobs as the fragile economy slowly recovers. We simply cannot afford to pull the rug out from underneath progress, not now, not when we are finally rebounding from the Bush recession, not with the extreme spending bill this represents.

I refuse to take America back to the failed policies that sunk our economy. My first two amendments would restore funding from the cuts to the Social Security Administration to prevent its shutdown. The cuts that the irresponsible Republican spending bill propose in this section alone would raid $625 million from the Social Security Administration. This would affect the 53 million Americans who are collecting Social Security by furloughing every employee and closing the doors for a month or more. An estimated 400,000 people, mostly seniors, would not have their claims processed this year, creating a huge backlog and threatening the timely payment of benefits.

My amendments would restore this funding because I do not believe we should use our Nation's seniors that have worked hard and played by the rules their whole lives to somehow painfully balance our budget. This is simply extreme and, again, painfully irresponsible.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, is also cut in this irresponsible Republican spending plan by some nearly $400 million. Those are cuts that are made on the backs of the low-income residents, seniors, the disabled, and those with children like those I represent in the now cold and snowy Capital region of New York, who struggle to pay to keep the thermostat set at a livable level. LIHEAP keeps those receiving help from having to make the heartbreaking decision about whether to pay to keep the heat on or to pay for food and prescription drugs. To pull the rug out from underneath our Nation's most vulnerable is both simply extreme and painfully irresponsible.

My fourth amendment would maintain funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program and the State Energy Program. It is amendment number 4 and is set up for a recorded vote today. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill. The State Energy Program yields $7.22 in annual energy savings for every $1 invested in it while renovating our 13,000 buildings per year.

The Weatherization Assistance Program helps low-income and elderly save over $437 on their annual utility bill, and decreases oil consumption by the equivalent of 24.1 million barrels annually. To cut these jobs-producing, energy savings programs that clearly work is both simply extreme and painfully irresponsible.

I have also offered two amendments that would protect the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act from being jeopardized under the irresponsible Republican spending plan. The Clean Air Act protects public health and safety and has saved hundreds of thousands of lives since 1970 by reducing air pollution by 60 percent, while the economy has grown by 200 percent.

The Clean Water Act protects drinking water for 117 million Americans and safeguards 20 million acres of wetlands and wildlife habitats from big polluters. Seeking to inappropriately legislate against these programs in a spending bill, the continuing resolution would threaten the air our children breathe and the water we drink. This is simply extreme and painfully irresponsible.

My seventh amendment removes unobligated funding from Fossil Energy Research and Development and transfers these funds to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. This would prioritize our investments from dirty oil and dirty fossil fuel sources of the past to the energy of today and tomorrow, clean energy that would create jobs and make us competitive in a global market. Choosing to go sit out the clean energy race of today for the outdated energy sources of yesterday is simply extreme and painfully irresponsible.

My eighth amendment would restore funding for education and special ed to ensure our children and the future of our country have the resources they desperately need to compete in a global marketplace for generations to come. It prevents thousands of teacher layoffs.

The irresponsible Republican spending bill cuts over $1.25 billion in education funding that goes directly to States at a time when we can least afford it. Balancing the budget on the backs of our children and their education is simply extreme and painfully irresponsible.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose the current irresponsible Republican spending bill before the House. It threatens to undermine our recovery economy and job growth.

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