Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2006

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 -- (House of Representatives - March 17, 2005)

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

The Congressional Black Caucus is offering an alternative budget proposal that differs from both the President's budget and the House majority's budget by putting America and Americans first. Its focus is to reduce disparities that exist in America's communities by investing in the priorities and challenges that Americans face today. It also provides significant support for our troops in Iraq. At the same time, the CBC budget alternative accomplishes these goals in a manner that is much more fiscally responsible than the Republican budget, so much so, as this chart shows, the budget deficit each year is much less, a total of a $167 billion deficit reduction over 5 years, so much so that it saves just in interest cost alone $27.5 billion over 5 years.

The Congressional Black Caucus alternative builds for America's future and addresses the domestic challenges our country faces. The bulk of the CBC budget has been applied to a comprehensive approach to education and training. With the intention of closing achievement and opportunity gaps in education, the CBC budget dramatically increases funding for education and training programs by $23.9 billion over the proposed Republican budget next year alone.

The CBC budget supports public education by fully funding No Child Left Behind, provides critical funding for Head Start, TRIO, IDEA, and elementary and secondary school counseling. To address the education needs of our military families, the CBC budget allocates more funding for Impact Aid. Millions of at-risk students are hoping to succeed in high school and enroll in college, and to make that dream a reality the CBC alternative allocates funding for the GEAR-UP program, raises the maximum amount for Pell Grants, increases funding for historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions. In addition, the CBC budget funds for the Perkins student loan program, as well as job training, adult education, and vocational education programs that are critical in today's global economy.

In order to close the existing economic disparities in the United States and to help entrepreneurs realize the American dream, the CBC alternative funds job creation programs under the Small Business Administration. It supports community development programs, including community development block grants, child nutrition programs, and health programs such as Community Health Centers.

The budget also addresses disparities in housing, and believes that everyone in the United States is entitled to a safe and comfortable home. It supports HOPE VI, section 8 housing programs, housing for the disabled and elderly, and low income energy assistance. The budget also provides funding for Amtrak and public transportation.

The CBC recognizes that advancements in technology and science are necessary to maintain America's competitiveness in today's global economy. The budget supports funding for research and development, particularly in aeronautics and NASA, and increases funding for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Energy, as well as measures for space shuttle safety.

The Congressional Black Caucus budget alternative also recognizes the importance of adding to the safety of our communities by funding initiatives such as juvenile crime prevention programs and prisoner reentry programs.

The funding for these important domestic needs comes from rolling back tax cuts for an individual's adjusted gross income that is over $200,000, and eliminating several abusive tax loopholes, including corporate incentives to move jobs overseas. Moreover, the Congressional Black Caucus budget does not adopt the new tax cuts included in the Republican budget. The CBC revenues are used for the domestic and deficit reduction portions of the alternative budget.

The CBC budget is also committed to making America more secure. The funding for urgent homeland security needs, veterans programs and benefits, and additional support for defense and our troops in Iraq comes from a $7.8 billion reduction in ballistic missile defense, leaving $1 billion in the program for continued research.

It is a priority of the CBC to provide American soldiers with the equipment necessary to return home from Iraq in a safe, quick and successful manner. To that end, a portion of these funds have been reallocated to protect our troops in Iraq by providing them with body armor, vehicle armor, and other personal support equipment, as well as for the construction and maintenance of our Navy vessels, which will preserve jobs.

The CBC understands that providing homeland security requires appropriate funding to meet the many pressing needs in homeland security; and, therefore, we have substantial funding for port security grants and rail security grants as well as funding for first responders, Federal air marshals and border patrol agents.

The remainder of these funds are used to restore cuts in veterans' programs and benefits. The CBC understands that today's soldiers are tomorrow's veterans who deserve our respect and sacrifices, not just in word but in deed and in budget. Thus, the alternative budget makes critical increases in veterans' programs and benefits, a substantial portion of which is health care.

It also supports funding for long-term care initiatives, medical and prosthetic research, and mental health care, among others. We believe that the sum of these initiatives will make us more secure as a Nation.

The CBC is committed to reducing disparities in all of America's communities. At the same time, our budget recognizes that we cannot place the burden on our children and grandchildren. A top priority of the CBC is to address the exploding deficit problem, and that is why our budget reduces the deficit by $167 billion and saves $27 billion in interest payments compared to the House majority's budget.

Members of the CBC have worked tirelessly to create a budget that is fiscally responsible, supports our troops and recognizes the need of American individuals and American communities around the country. We believe this is a sound budget that will reduce disparities in America's communities and promote and protect the best that America and Americans have to offer.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for yielding me this time. I want to make a couple of comments as we wrap up. One is the massive tax increase. What we did was started with the base budget, the Republican budget. On income we changed the revenue by rolling back the tax cuts to the level they were at in 2001 for income over 200,000. If someone makes more than $200,000, they get all the income tax cuts up to the 200,000, but no tax cuts after 200,000. Again, we spend $167 billion less deficit than the Republican budget, creating $27 billion less in interest payments.

Now, we have heard all of this about massive cuts in defense. Let us be very clear. All of the numbers on defense are exactly the same numbers as the Republican budget, with one exception. We fund missile defense at $1 billion rather than $8.8 billion.

If you look at defense, homeland security, and veterans, that total is the same because we use that money to fund defense, homeland security and veterans.

Now, on defense, I hope the gentleman from Florida is working with the Virginia delegation in maintaining a 12-aircraft carrier fleet. This budget, the Congressional Black Caucus budget, has a billion dollars more in shipbuilding than the underlying budget. We have $75 million more in shipbuilding than the underlying budget. We have $75 million more in body armor. We have in homeland security, $500 million for port security; $100 million for rail security, veterans benefits.

Those charts did not show what the present level of services would cost. It also did not show the fact that the Republican budget has co-pays and deductibles that our budget does not have. We say we have $4 billion more for veterans, over $1 billion more for shipbuilding, over $2 billion more for homeland security. So if you look at that as a group, we are more secure with the Congressional Black Caucus budget than the Republican budget.

I would hope that we would adopt the budget. It saves money and makes us more secure.

I include for the RECORD the fiscal year 2006 CBC alternative budget breakdown:

FISCAL YEAR 2006 CBC ALTERNATIVE BUDGET BREAKDOWN

Working off the Chairman's Mark, As Amended, all calculations are for changes above/below proposed Fiscal Year 2006 levels.

On behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus, this Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute seeks to offer to Congress and the American people an alternative budget that is fiscally responsible and aimed at reducing disparities in our communities. The CBC alternative budget raises revenue by reducing the tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 for an individual's adjusted gross income that exceeds $200,000 and not adopting the new Republican tax cuts, eliminating corporate tax incentives for off-shoring jobs, closing tax loopholes, abusive shelters, and methods of tax avoidance, and eliminating the repeal of the limitation on itemized deductions (Pease) and the phase-out of personal exemptions (PEP) scheduled to take place between 2006 and 2010. These funds total an estimated $36.3 billion in FY 2006. The CBC budget uses nearly $4 billion of these additional revenues for deficit reduction. The remaining funds are used to restore cuts and fund increases in specific budget function areas. These include full funding for No Child Left Behind and providing funds for school construction and increases for other education and job training programs. The CBC alternative budget allocates additional funding for job creation programs under SBA, community and regional development programs including community development block grants, and law enforcement initiatives such as juvenile justice and prisoner reentry programs. It provides funding for child nutrition programs, community health centers, NASA research and development, Amtrak, Hope VI and Section 8 housing programs, and housing for the disabled and the elderly.

In addition, the CBC alternative budget reduces funding for the Ballistic Missile Defense program by $7.8 billion. The CBC alternative budget reallocates all of this money for additional support for the troops in Iraq and other defense items necessary to maintain our military strength and jobs, homeland security needs, and veterans programs and benefits.

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