Congressional Black Caucus Budget

Floor Speech

Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the Ryan Republican budget and in support of the alternative budget plan that has been submitted by the Congressional Black Caucus.

The CBC budget is an effort to take a balanced approach to deficit reduction; the GOP budget balances itself on the backs of children, college students, working families, middle class folks, senior citizens, the poor, the sick, and the afflicted.

The CBC budget would move America forward; the GOP budget would take us backward.

The CBC budget is designed to create progress for the greatest number of Americans possible; the GOP budget is designed to promote prosperity for the few.

As we engage in this budget debate, we should be here on the floor of the House of Representatives trying to find ways to promote the American Dream for the middle class and for those who aspire to be part of it. Instead, the Ryan Republican budget is a nightmare for far too many Americans.

My good friends on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker, may suggest that when we use language such as that, it is hyperbole. Let's examine what the Ryan Republican budget actually does, because I believe, when you put it to an evidence-based analysis, one can come to no other conclusion than it will result in a nightmare for far too many Americans.

The Ryan Republican budget would cut more than $125 billion in food and nutritional assistance for food-insecure Americans. In this great country of ours, the richest in the world, there are more than 50 million Americans every day who wake up hungry and food insecure. Approximately 16 million of those hungry Americans are children. Yet the Ryan Republican budget would cut $125 billion in assistance to these Americans. That is a nightmare.

The Ryan Republican budget would also cut approximately $260 billion in funding for higher education, essentially robbing the capacity of so many younger Americans to pursue the American Dream of getting a college education.

In this country, there is already more than $1 trillion in collective student loan debt. That is more than $1 trillion. That reality, Mr. Speaker, means that so many younger Americans have an inability when they graduate from college to purchase a home, to start a family, to create small businesses. We are robbing these Americans of a viable future. And $260 billion in cuts to higher education funding, it seems to me, is a nightmare for younger Americans.

The Ryan Republican budget would also cut $732 billion from Medicaid. Almost two-thirds of the recipients of Medicaid are actually seniors, the sick, the disabled, and the afflicted. Don't believe this caricature that people like to create as it relates to Medicaid. Seniors, the sick, the afflicted, and the disabled benefit from Medicaid, and the Ryan Republican budget would cut $732 billion over a 10-year period from this vital social safety net program? That is a nightmare for the American people.

So this is not hyperbole. Unfortunately, this is reality.

I would urge my colleagues to take a real close look at the Congressional Black Caucus alternative, a fair and balanced alternative, a budget that would invest in job training and education, invest in transportation and infrastructure, invest in research and development, invest in technology and innovation, invest in the American people and our future.

That is why I am urging a ``no'' vote on the Ryan Republican budget and a ``yes'' vote on the CBC alternative.

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