OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Lifting Defense and Nondefense Budget Caps

Floor Speech

Date: March 24, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security Senior Citizens Defense Entitlements and the Safety Net Health Insurance Government Budget and Spending Education

Mr. Speaker, as the House begins to prepare to discuss the next year's fiscal budget, we need a budget that supports hard-working Americans, not one that puts our families in jeopardy.

The GOP budget ends Medicare as we know it; it cuts Pell grants; it decimates Head Start, and it doubles down on policies that put working families further behind. One thing that we all need to fear in this budget is the harmful, arbitrary budget caps on both our nondefense and defense programs. These caps hurt all Americans and make our military vulnerable.

Our military leadership has made clear that the budget caps are harming our national security. Michigan is an important northern border State, and at too many places, like at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan, our men and women in uniform face dramatic cuts to the critical training and equipment they need to defend our country.

We can't afford more unrealistic budget gimmicks or plans that just kick the can down the road. We need to take up a serious budget, which the Democrats will offer this week.


Source
arrow_upward