Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1473, Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011: Providing 1

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this closed rule and to the underlying bill.

I want to reinforce the comments of the gentlelady from New York when she said that the issue of defunding Planned Parenthood or what your opinion is about the Affordable Care Act really has no place in this debate. It shouldn't be tied to anything. The fact of the matter is the Republicans are intentionally injecting these very kinds of polarizing issues, and let me say to all of my friends on the Democratic side, that's the reason you should vote against this rule.

I'm pleased that the Republican leadership of the House decided it was not in anyone's interest to shut down the government. I am also pleased that the leadership ignored the chants of ``shut it down'' coming from the most extreme elements of their party. But I am not pleased, Madam Speaker, with this so-called compromise.

This bill cuts the wrong things too deeply and ignores some of the things that could stand to be cut. The cuts target the poor and the middle class, the very people who can least afford it as we struggle to recover from the Great Recession. Meanwhile, the very wealthy and the special interests get away scot-free. Student aid programs get cut. Children's health care would be cut. Transportation funding to repair our roads and our bridges would be cut. Environmental protection would be cut. The COPS program, which helps local communities stay safe, would be cut. Investments in science and technology research would be cut.

But the Department of Defense, well, they got a $5 billion increase. Oil companies keep their sweet tax loopholes. And big agriculture keeps their subsidies. That's not fair, Madam Speaker, and that's not right.

I am all for a leaner government; but I'm not for a meaner government. I'm for balancing the budget; but I'm not for balancing the budget solely on the backs of the poor and the middle class. If you want to get to a balanced budget, there needs to be some fairness in this process. And if you think that this bill is troublesome, just wait because later this week we will be debating the Republican budget proposal for 2012, a budget that would represent the largest redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the rich in American history. It is a budget plan that ends Medicare as we know it. It is a budget plan that tells our seniors we want you to pay more, and you will get less.

Well, there are some things worth fighting for, Madam Speaker, and the protection of Medicare is one of them. So I look forward to that fight.

But in the meantime, I urge my colleagues to reject this yet again another closed rule, and I urge them to reject the underlying bill. We can do better than this.

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