but the rhetoric deficit between what they say and economic reality is even bigger there are jiro tax increases or cuts in any of these budgets the tax situation at the end of the year the end of this fiscal year will be the same now the general texas is worried about people who will be facing tax increases later on by the way he says the tax increases that are in current law that's current law that the republicans passed i didn't vote for that no not with two minutes i didn't vote for the current law so they don't like what they put into the law but the people i talk about who are working people in my district they are not worried about a state taxes on twenty million dollars they're not worried about incomes over two hundred thousand dollars the gentleman did make an accurate point he said what about the person who's paycheck will be exactly the same next year well before the republicans took over her paycheck wasn't exactly the same that used to go up paychecks used to increase with the economy no only with the republicans in power have we seen this freeze on real pay in fact a decrease in real pay now let me tell you why i am for the progressive budget is i do agree we ought to save the taxpayers money i am prepared to say that when the republican power we won the cold war they apparently don't recognize that because they've got a budget that's still fighting it in addition to the enormous waste of lives and american prestige and everything else that is involved in  enormous waste of money there we are still funding weapons in this budget now many of these weapons are great weapons but they have one defect they have no enemy a weapon without an enemy is a pretty silly thing to have so i got the progressive budget because among other things it brings under control this enormous increase in pentagon spending and apparently according to my right wing republican colleagues spending on weapons that we don't need is good spending ending to pay for health care for children is bad spending i think they got it exactly opposite in the progressive budget as a way to fix that jones has expired gentleman from texas at this time the chairman  minutes to distinguish ranking member of the budget committee the gentleman from wisconsin john was reprimanded for four minutes i thank the gentleman for yielding i wish my friend from massachusetts what a state of the mike i simply want to ask you if there but if the budget the democratic budget balances the budget if it achieves balance with the gentleman care to answer the question if the democratic budget achieves balance in twenty twelve i haven't looked at that but i was addressing a demagogue to me the assertion that it raises taxes in this current year frankly taxes they simply cannot say in the one hand they're balancing the budget and then on the other hand not raising taxes because the only way their budget balances is only by raising taxes so mr speaker don't listen to me listen to the ninety nine senators who just voted this morning to validate everything i just said ninety nine senators just a couple hours ago voted for the  chairman of the finance committee's amendment that said the tax increases in this budget are just a little too big let's cut them in half let's reduce the tax increases by three hundred forty one billion dollars so it's only about a three hundred billion dollars tax increase the senate budget now has half the tax increase in it that this budget here does my friend the progressives i want to compliment them because they're bringing a budget to the floor that reflects the principles that reflects their values and they're putting their rhetoric where their mouth is by bringing a bunch of the floor i want to commend i have progressive friends for doing that that's what we all should be doing you hear me criticizing the underlying budget you hear me criticizing the progressive budget but we will be bringing our own budget to the floor in just a few minutes to show what we stand for and what we stand for is controlling spending is doing an earmark moratorium and saving that money by just saying no to earmarks for a year as our budget proposed to do we can pay for making the child tax credit permanent making the marriage penalty repeal permanent just those two things so at the end of the day mr chairman it's about choices it's about values do we want pork or do we want more money and paychecks of working americans pork or paychecks we're going to vote for paychecks and the reason we're going to vote for putting more money in people's paychecks for protecting their paychecks is because people's paychecks aren't stretching as far as they used to you have high gas prices high home care home health heating prices high health care prices high food prices the last thing the american workers need today the last thing american families need today is an average three thousand dollar tax increase we shouldn't be taxing people because they're married we shouldn't be raising taxes five hundred dollars per child we shouldn't be making small businesses pay a higher tax rate than the largest corporations in america ye that is exactly what the democratic budget does as for the progress a budget does well it's what the congressional black caucus budget does as well it's a difference of opinion it's a difference of values we think washington spends too much money and my friend from california she was right when she said it is about morals it is about values and we have different ideas i have for one additional m minute we believe that the engine of economic growth what makes america great is its people are the families the workers the small businesses the entrepreneurs of america we also believe we have a  moral imperative to make right by future generations you know my parents told me that the legacy of america is you leave the next generation better off you make them safer more prosperous and we'll to them a higher standard of living we may sever that relationship because of the unsustainable path of our entitlement programs which each of these budgets makes worse the democratic budget just in two programs sends to programs medicare and social care the fourteen trillion dollars deeper in debt that's wrong that's giving our children and grandchildren a huge debt a higher debt we think we need to go the other direction we need to reform these programs so we can fulfill the mission of health and retirement security but do so while still guaranteeing our kids and grandchildren get a better future a more prosperous future a higher standard of living that's why we should vote no on all these budgets general lady from california thank you myself thirty you to the gentleman from wisconsin let me just say first of all the democratic budget does balance by two thousand and twelve the congressional black caucus budget balances by two thousand and twelve the congressional progressive caucus budget balances by two thousand and twelve let me tell you there are people in our country making over one million dollars million dollars and all that we do is we provide the tax cut which will expire in two thousand and ten for the people in our country who make over one million dollars that's the top one percent mind you one percent of taxpayers and that brings us at least two hundred twenty two billion dollars i yield now three minutes to the gentle lady from california congresswoman waters who chairs the housing and community opportunity subcommittee of the financial services committee and who has helped us put together this budget especially the rebuild america community's budget who has worked on our housing issues katrina issues and so many issues for so many years and this section this budget is a remarkable section and i hope everyone will listen to her so they can understand exactly what we did in our progressive caucus but generally does recognize three men well thank you very much  chairman members and i'd like to thank congresswoman barbara lee and congresswoman lynn woolsey for their leadership on the progressive caucus all the work that they do not only in putting this alternative budget together but the leadership they have provide to this congress and trying to get this congress moving in the great direction and representing all of the people i certainly did not want to take my time responding to the gentleman from wisconsin but we need to understand the definition when he talks about raising taxes what he's really talking about is the fact that both of these budgets the black caucus budget and the progressive caucus budget simply will eliminate that tax giveaways to the richest corporations in america and that's what he calls raising taxes the barry people who are responsible for getting us in this sub prime mess that we're in now where we have people who are losing their homes to foreclosures having said all that i have already spoken about my support but the congression black caucus and i'm offering today my very very strong support for the progressive  budget many of the priorities are the same in these two budgets including vastly increasing funds for housing and community development better into education health programs an energy independent i strongly support these increases as i said when i talked about the congressional black caucus budget that i had eliminated hope six our program that would provide decent housing for the most vulnerable people in our society in a responsible way they try to reduce the cd b g program the program that goes to the small cities enter these towns that are using them for infrastructure and helping saying your citizens and you and this budget would put the money back  in to make them continue to be credible programs let me talk a little bit about the economic stimulus the components of the economic stimulus package included in the progressive caucus budget but which we have been advocating for many weeks now are certainly needed to help those americans hardest hit by the worsening economic situation most importantly stimulation will come from increase fans for housing assistance and community development the economic downturn came from the devastated housing market and that is where we need to focus our resources the progressive caucus also targets unemployment insurance food stamps at map and health care and aid and large infrastructure projects and each of our states to invest in our cities and create new jobs with well founded peers of the recession been discussed at dinner tables across the country these investments are absolutely necessary to support our constituents and stimulate our economy the progressive i'm young myself three minutes john is recognized for three minutes mr mouth it's very important for all the american people who are following this debate we only hear these claims that all we're going to do is somehow tax the rich well again we've heard the gentle lady from california say that this budget balances but according to the congressional budget office headed up by a democrat their appointee the only way that that budget balances are any of the democrat budgets balance is by huge automatic tax increases that will take place over the next few years and under the tax increases that will take place in current law you're going to have one hundred  sixteen million taxpayers see an average tax increase of eighteen hundred dollars a year more than six million low income individuals and couples who currently pay no tax no tax will no longer be exempt approximately forty eight million married couples will face an average tax increase of three thousand dollars a year low income i repeat low income families with one or two children will no longer be eligible for the refundable  twenty eleven roughly twelve million single women and we know that often to be poor in america is to be a single mother twelve million single women will see their taxes increase by one thousand one hundred dollars per year and again don't take my word for it go to the congressional budget office and look at the numbers and their impact all the different tax brackets those who are at the lowest bracket today the ten percent bracket are going to see their taxes increase fifty percent to a fifteen percent bracket so i hope the american people are watching this debate very closely because every time we hear the democrats say oh we're just going to tax the wealthy we're going to tax the wealthy that's a sign for any working american to hold on to their wallet mr chairman that's what that assigning is and we're also debating today the a m t the alternative minimum tax which would have been more aptly named the absolute maximum tax when that was brought to the floor by democrats in the first place mr chairman we were told that's only going to impact a hundred and fifty high income americans and yet today we know it threatens twenty five million americans with an additional tax payment of over two thousand dollars a year so our friends on the other side of the aisle can't have it both ways either you do not balance the budget or if you do you certainly have no spending discipline in your budget then you're doing it through the tax increases and look at the numbers of your congressional budget office they say you will impose the single largest tax increase in american history and it's congressman dennis kucinich jones recognized for three minutes arrived in support of the progressive caucus budget because it includes home foreclosure relief the foreclosure crisis is at the epicenter of our economic slowdown in northeast ohio among the hardest hit in the nation hardworking american families deserve financial security foreclosure undermines the physical emotional and financial security of america's families has a detrimental effect on the greater community neighborhoods with foreclosed properties are likely to experience declining property values kaga county which includes cleveland my home town had eleven thousand foreclosures in two thousand and five more than triple the number a decade earlier my home state of ohio has a ninety s rate of foreclosures and fourth nationwide for the number of pre foreclosure and foreclosure filings so i'm urging my colleagues to support this budget for that reason but there's another reason too we can talk about the transfer of wealth which is a lot of the discussions that go on this whole government an engine to transfer the wealth of the country upwards we have to recognize that if there's one engine that's transferring the wealth upwards with great acceleration it's the war because this war would be as if every american family took out a checkbook and wrote out a check already for sixteen thousand dollars handed over to the government already it's cost each family in this country sixteen thousand dollars and if we continue this war if you read joseph stiglitz the nobel prize winning economist the war is going to cost three trillion and by the time we get over the upwards of five trillion dollars let's talk about how this budget is being used to accelerate the wealth of the nation upwards and it's a progressive budget which offers an alternative which says end the war stop funding the war stop funding wasteful military spending we want a secure nation but we cannot secure our nation with lies the wars based on lies we're on the fifth anniversary of this war we went to war based on lies at a cost of three trillion dollars now four thousand of our troops a million innocent iraqis the morality of the united states our position in the world all under attack because the truth wasn't tall this budget is the truth this budget gives the american people the opportunity to finally have their basic needs met and those needs are going to continue to be neglected as long as we stay riveted to a war that is based on lies bring those troops home the progressive budget does it stop the war the progressive budget does it take a new direction with our international policy the progressive budget does it take care of things here at home the progressive budget does that vote for the progressive budget gentlemens us back retire gentleman from texas yes mr chairman i this time i will  minutes again to the distinguished ranking member of the budget committee the gentleman from wisconsin charles recognized for doing minutes i think the gentleman for yielding and i think the gentleman forum for all the work he's done on making a fiscally secure being fiscally responsible and bring fiscal sanity to congress he's one of the leaders mr chairman the problem in washington is not we have too little tax money coming in the problem in washington is spending is too high let me show you what this chart shows it's a little complicated the red line shows you the democrats line of higher taxes the blue line shows you the revenue line that our budget will do which is lower taxes that's the difference of the marriage penalty the child tax credit income tax rates across the board capital gains dividends the death tax is the green line is the current spending trajectory that we are on let me describe what it looks like in just one program as foreseen in the democratic budget under the democratic budget the medicare program today has an unfunded liability of thirty four trillion dollars what does that mean per household per family three hundred thousand dollars right now every family in america would have to put in three hundred thousand dollars just to make medicare secure just to make medicare viable insolvent under the democratic budget they increase that debt by eleven trillion dollars in just five years this five year budget says that in five years by the time their but budget expires it will be about a four hundred thousand dollars burden to every single household of america by pretty darn nice house for four hundred thousand dollars let me explain what this looks like across the board and that's one program where they raising the debt by eleven trillion dollars this is the one that counts the most mr speaker for the last forty years the federal government has been pretty consistent in how much money it's had to tax to pay for the federal government that washington has had attacked about eighteen point three cents on the dollar for every dollar made in america about eighteen point three cents of the dollar made in america went to pay for washington well because of the baby boomers because of the retirement this isn't a democrat thing or a republican thing it's just what's happening in america because we're dumping them on retirees we have in this country we're going from forty million retirees to seventy eight million retirees and these programs are what we call pay as you go where current workers pay a current tax to finance the benefits for current beneficiaries so i'm paying my payroll taxes on my income taxes for my mom who's on medicare and social security that's the way the system works and it works out well if you have an equal ratio of workers and beneficiaries but we don't the reason we don't is because our birth rates declined after the baby boomer generation something wrong nothing sinister about it just what it is what it is and so we're increasing our tax consuming generation we're increasing the beneficiaries by one hundred percent but we're only increasing the tax payers by seventeen percent that in a nutshell is why we have this fiscal train wreck that in a nutshell is why we're staring at these enormous debts in our in our country's future what does that mean to the future of our country what does that mean for our children our grandchildren i'll tell you what it means to my three children my son is three my son charlie is for my daughter lives is six by the time my three children are exactly my age and i'm not the oldest guy around here by the time they are my age they will have to pay twice what we pay in taxes just to keep today's federal government going for them at that time let me say it a different way instead of taking eighteen point three cents about every dollar made in america today when my three kids are my age i asked for an additional minute additional minute when my three kids are my age they're going to have to spend forty cents on every dollar made in america just to pay the bills to the federal government and the speaker we have real competition that we have staring us in the face we have competition from india from china the age of the global economy is here with us whether we like it or not it is here you can't extend and give a prosperous nation a higher standard of living to the next generation  doubling their taxes if we say today it's eighteen cents on a dollar and tomorrow it's forty cents out of a dollar you can't give our children and grandchildren a chance at a great career at a high standard of living in this new competitive era we are in if we do go down this path we're going to give more and more jobs to china to india to other countries so we say what we ought to do is do what our employers want us to do the people that sent us here to congress want to fix this problem they want to fulfill the mission of health retirement security and do it without bankrupting future generations and do it so we can stay competitive in the global economy so that we can pass a better future on to future generations that's why this budget should be defeated ge is interesting to listen to my good friends about the tax cuts that they believe will generate happiness in america i want to remind my friends that the last eight years have been governed by a republican administration that has had as the definition of their viability in this country as they are the big tax cutters and their right to making a million dollars or your warren buffett you're celebrating and dancing in the streets as the tax cuts that my friend is talking about but if you hard working middle class americans who have looked toward the dream that america has offered those who build cars with their hands will drive trucks teachers and nurses the very people who made america great the kind of salt of the earth that a thomas edison came from or george washington carver then you're not dancing in the street in fact you're trying to pick the pieces up and walk through the street because if you look at what this administration has generated dollar forty seven cents on two thousand and one now the average price for a gallon three dollars and fourteen cents maybe going to four dollars because right now the price  barrel of oil is one hundred ten dollars a barrel not only hurting those hardworking americans but even in texas some of the refineries that hire blue collar workers can barely make it because they can't make a recovery when they're paying a hundred and ten dollars a barrel for a gallon or for oil they don't answer that question the progressive budget is a budget that addresses the heartburn of america what it says to his children and their grandchildren is that we believe in a domestic agenda that gets you out of the pits of depression and economic recession we believe in helping children and parents work by improving and expanding early child care and increasing head start if you've got a nineteen sixty two car nineteen seventy seven nineteen ninety nine barely can you make it trying to get to work and pay child care we get them out of the doldrums of the recession we understand that there are people who are now a victim who are homeowners we give out two hundred thousand housing vouchers so that those in my district alone twenty five thousand people on the waiting list for section eight and other housing resources not because they can't work because there are no facilities for them and because the market is out of control this is what the progressive budget does and then it takes to the least of those those children in the foster care system that circle around and i get an additional journalese recognize for additional matter that's portable around the system who knows who they turn out to be maybe it's the unfortunate young men that found themselves on the streets of north carolina to take the life of a coal it there are tragedies out there in this budget understand that investing in america and these workers will make a difference that's why this budget supports an increase in the i t c to increase work incentives and reduce poverty and it bring the troops home that's where the money is going and it doesn't stifle competition it promotes the space program it applauds science and math but young people to aspire to space but it gives those whose whole those pocket it has a hole in it it gives them an opportunity it is a bill a budget that stamps out poverty that recognizes that it is important to not ignore those who you can ignore because they are not in front of you i applaud more buffett for his ingenue and he and his greatness in terms of its economic proudness but i also employed mrs myself three minutes mr chairman jones recognized for three minutes whose chairman i'm not sure the hardworking men and women of america need to charge know how expensive gasoline is and i was interested in my friend from texas history lesson that there is a more recent history lesson that i believe the american people could benefit from elections have consequences the democrats get control of the senate and took control of the house in january of zero seven and they've been in control of the nation's economy now for fifteen months this is what the price of oil was when the democrats took control of this body years where the price of oil is now roughly double since the democrats took control of this body mr chairman job growth has been cut in half and the economy has actually lost over eighty thousand jobs in the most recent two months the average family's grocery bill has increased about seventy dollars per month since the day kratz took control of congress the stock market has lost about ten percent of its value since the democrats took control of congress home prices have fallen roughly eight percent since the democrats took control of congress consumer price inflation has increased over four percent the largest calendar year increase since the early ninety's since the democrats have taken control of congress that is the more recent history lesson that the american people can profit from there's another aspect  these democrat budgets that again i believe deserve very special attention i want to again thank the ranking member for his insight into the peril that these budgets present to future generations and really the threat of to the retirement security of our children and grandchildren because these budgets compromise it we know that medicare medicaid and social security won't be around for future generations unless they are reformed but i want to focus again on the fact that this budget in every democrat budget will raise taxes on hardworking american families by at least three thousand dollars a month and what do they do with that money they keep alive and earmark system that far too many americans have rightfully concluded that all too often represent the victory of transparency rather secrecy over transparency and special interest over the national interest in privilege over merit and so they're go raise taxes on american families three thousand dollars a year and what are they going to pay for well they're going to pay for things like two million dollars to study yoga in the defense bill that was placed in by democrat member of congress and perhaps they don't have a bridge to nowhere but according to c b s news we have an arc to nowhere a democrat member of congress wanted to rebuild an ark in a park we find a the dorrell center for manufacturing technology named after a democrat member of congress i've already mentioned the charlie rangle center two million dollars using three things i give myself an additional  jones recognizer additional merit they raise taxes on the american people three thousand dollars a family to pay for the charlie rangle center for public service i've already mentioned the fact that they are spending  hundred thousand dollars for the l a fashion district for quote signage and streetscape improvements one of the district's main thoroughfares robertson boulevard is known as a great place to spot celebrity shoppers the democrat budgets keep these earmarks alive and well and raise taxes on the american people three thousand dollars a year to pay for two hundred thirty one thousand dollars for something called the lincoln airport commission an airport in illinois that does not even exist the executive director of whom apparently is on the staff of a member a democrat member of the united states congress time i feel myself an additional minute m chair in order to raise taxes three thousand dollars a year on american families the democrats also continue to fund earmarks like three hundred thousand dollars requested for a democrat member to help train future employees of hollywood movie sets i'm sure the movie studios are struggling as they make their multi millions at the box office two million dollars for the paint schildt for protecting people from microbe biol threats which was given to one specific company no competitive bid they just handed the money to share one way humans and said no need to compete no to show merit we're going to raise taxes on the american family three thousand dollars a year to pay for more earmarks in the list goes on and on to very different budgets mr chairman the republican budget says anough enough to clear a year long moratorium on earmarks in fix this broken system every single democrat budget mr chairman says status quo is fine let's keep these earmarks a common let's make sure we take from the family paychecks so some member of congress can keep theirs reserve the balance my time to learn from california  is recognized for two minutes thank the chairman i think that generally let me again thank congresswoman barbara lee and congresswoman walz lee for their step fasts a commitment to addressing  the concerns of the most heavily impacted americans in this most disrupted economic season let me remind my friends that we are speaking of a congress democratically led for a little over a year in that timeframe we have in fact increased the minimum wage w valiant fight for the children's health insurance program to insure ten million children but what you have seen that has occurred if you will under this administration which is really the definition of this republican minority they are the residents on the ship captain by this it minute gratian and so if they want to talk about what burdens are falling on the american people democratic house and senate leadership is no more than a year but the helm of this government has been kept in by a republican administration and we can clearly see that a surplus existed under the past administration under the clinton administration but under this administration not only have we eaten up the surplus the hardworking americans under the bus but it is growing and growing and growing now that is with the so called tax cuts that this administration insists on making permanent that the progressive bug budget recognizes cannot continue to eat in the pockets of those who go out and work every day and to my good friend on the air mark let me suggest to him that he might read some of the studies and is a bias that earmarks a fairly distributed this is the cause of  gentleman from texas mention we're not saying all earmarks are bad some of them are are worthy some of them are vetted some of them fit within the proper role of the federal government but a lot of them are bad a lot of them are wasteful a lot of them probably go outside of what most people think are the proper role of the federal government the point is we don't have all the answers on how to make it work right that's why we think we ought to have a commission of equal number of democrats an equal number of republicans the kingston with commissions whatever he calls it to figure out how to make these things work right so that congress can regain the trust and confidence of the american people but in the meantime let's say no to these earmarks for a year less to a moratorium that's what we do and you know what we can accomplish by actually having a moratorium of earmarks for one year by banking those savings by saying no to your much for a year and carrying those savings in our budget we can for sure make sure that we're not going to cut the child tax credit in half that we're not going to tax people for being married we can make permanent the one thousand dollars per child tax credit the repeal of the marriage tax penalty let me just read along this list of earmarks that we have an ode to tom to actual nice guy former senate majority leader a million dollar earmark to create a center force tom to actual insult to kota or we could look at the hippie museum this one has been pretty well known a million dollars for a museum to commemorate hippies at woodstock or we can look at the sailing earmark they call it a sixty five foot catamaran sailing around monterey bay sounds like a fun thing to do why should people in wisconsin pay their federal taxes to pay for that or we could take a look at all the list and list list that goes on one of my personal favorites is the ferry to nowhere that came from our side of the aisle fifty million dollars for a navy expeditionary marine craft just a ferry to go to a peninsula that serves forty people thirty seconds to the point is mr speaker we're not saying that republicans are so much better than democrats on all of this we're saying congress is broken on this area let's fix it but in the meantime let's save this money let's have a timeout let's fix this problem so that we can regain the trust and take that money and do two really important things let's not tax people for being married and let's not raise taxes on american families by five hundred dollars per child we can do those two things by simply saying growing need to create green collar jobs and reinvest in our country and i am very proud that they were able to include that language in this proposed budget it also increases federal spending for unemployment insurance and food stamps and we know that latinos are hard pressed and hard to get when it comes to bad economic times in this country and we're no different right now in my district in east los angeles we we see upwards of seven point two percent of unemployment and foreclosures occurring almost every hour in my district alone six hundred fifty thousand people have already lost their home it's time for a change it's time for a new direction this budget also increases federal spending on federal medicaid assistance percentage payments to our states which are sorely in need of that assistance right now providing help again for foreclosures and housing assistance reinvesting and creating jobs in near term in the near term repairing the nation's schools transportation and infrastructure i also want to touch base on something that's very deep deeply much of concern with our community and that is with respect to education and health care over overall and i'll tell you the temperature of the patient in terms of latinos african americans and people of color is not good right now what we see is forty million people that don't have health care insurance about forty percent of those happen to be latino children under the age of six we know there has to be a change when to promote a budget that will provide that kind of safety net for all americans our budget also increases veterans funding in two thousand and nine by three point six billion dollars something that we should keep as an honorable and honorable deed when we say that we want to send our soldiers out there to defend first and foremost our liberties let's make sure that we take care of them when they come home a high percentage tend to be those young men and women of color using the military because they have no other way of gaining access when they come home whether they're disabled or not they need to have the kind of assistance that's ready made available for them where they don't have to track two hours to get on a bus to go down to the nearest that turns in ministration to get help and assistance we need to change that and this budget does that in terms of the environment and global warn warming latinos low income communities are always hard pressed we need to reverse that trend and make sure that  a gets the full assistance that they need to enforce our current laws that will create a better level playing field for all americans this budget addresses that issue again i would like to say that i am strongly supportive of the congressional progress progressive caucus budget and would ask the members of the house to support this budget in a new direction and new reform for this country you know back the balance of my time has expired gentleman from texas the chairman man quite how much time is remaining on chairman has four and a half minutes left gentlemen has seven minutes left at this time mr chairman i would like to yield two minutes to distinguished gentleman from georgia one of the prime authors of the kingston earmark mor that's recognized for two minutes i think the gentleman for yielding and i want to say from the beginning i'm supporting the republican budget and i do find it ironic that a congress that just distributed a one time twelve hundred dollars per household tax credit is now going to turn around and raise taxes by three thousand one hundred fifty five dollars per household it doesn't make sense and for that reason i'm planning to vote no on the democrat tax increase budget and support the republican alternative but i also wanted to speak specifically about the earmark portion i'm a member of the appropriations committee and i realize that if you're a member of one party you might not always disagree with the members of the other party for example if you're a democrat right now you might not be in complete agreement with the bush budget likewise if your republican should another president from another party get elected you might not agree with their budget all the time therefore it's important for equal branches of government to have a say so in the construction of a budget and within that frame or it is often important that congress have the ability to earmark however i want to say this is a republican earmarking got out of control under our republican watch we know that for a fat any republican who's denying that probably has his head in the sand and i want to give the democrats credit they have tried to reform earmarks however unfortunately the reforms haven't been  parent and they haven't been given the credit and they haven't been enough we still have work to do therefore i am supporting the kingston long wall approach which is to call for a bipartisan buy cameral select committee to review earmarks with a moratorium for the time period that the select committee is in existence and i know that ours is and the moratorium is lifted when they come back additional thirty seconds i thank the gentleman because you know as an appropriator we're always focused on appropriation earmarks and yet the infamous bridge to nowhere did not come from an appropriations bill it came from a transportation bill in december two thousand and six we pas tax relief bill that had i think over one hundred different types earmarks on it but because they were a tax bill they weren't defined as earmarks we see the same thing in trade bills i believe that all earmarks should be put on the table and the process should be reviewed and that should include the white house earmarks that's why it's important for us on a bipartisan by camel by states like a step back and see what we can do to improve this we all agree earmarks should not increase a budget or within the existing budget limits passed by congress thank you thank you mr chairman how much time do i have remaining seven minutes seven minutes i'd like to leave two minutes to the gentleman from michigan the chair of the judiciary committee congressman conyers and thank him for his leadership elements recognized for two minutes i think the co chair of the caucus for allowing me to make it clear that to our friends on the other side of the aisle the budget as a document of what it is we believe in what we put our money down in support of expresses in some greater way the values of the nation and so we come to this budget consideration in the midst of what some call an economic downturn this progressive caucus budget that are specifically objected to i would like to invite the our friends on the other side to let us know what they are so that we can continue our work on it because the progressive caucus every year always introduces an alternative budget  we've been getting more support on it each year it's our hope that with the year in lightened analysis of it we'll get more we'll get more support i'm looking for the day when we get a bipartisan vote on the progressive caucus budget i think it's possible i think it's the states our priorities that don't have democratic or republican stamped on them what we're saying is let's look at these issues in the budget and point out which ones make your favorite and make the hit list and which ones yes you do in that case i reserve chairman reserves talent from california mr chairman let me say a couple of things as i close in response to my colleagues on the other side of the out first let me just talk about the argument with regard to tax increases our budget it provides for tax fairness we want to bring back some real justice in the tax code let me just say to you that i believe the progressive  believes that individuals earning one million dollars or more a year which is the top one percent of our country that those tax breaks should be rolled back the tax bracket should be rolled back to thirty nine point six percent that raises and least ninety six billion dollars i certainly think that that ninety six billion dollars can be put into restructuring some of the very draconian tax cuts excuse me cuts in our budget to initiatives such as education and health care which the president has cut secondly and we're talking about repealing capital gains and dividend tax breaks raising at least seventy four point four billion dollars seventy four point four billion dollars i think that that seventy four point four billion dollars can restore the fifty education programs in school including student financial aid which the president has fought to cut we also want to roll back the estate tax break raise in at least seventy four billion dollars i think that that seventy four billion dollars can go to restore those deep cuts highway infrastructure or and of all things he's slashing support for law enforcement i think that those resources could better be used in those areas also we're talking about in terms of repealing all additional tax breaks for the top one percent that means we have one hundred seventy seven billion dollars maybe that could go to help restore the energy assistance for low income families that the president cut or maybe it could go to restore the renewable energy and energy conservation programs that the president decided to cut and what about this when you talk about tax increases how about what we want to do to eliminate the corporate tax incentives for offshore jobs the tax code has a number of preferences that directly or indirectly encourages minute encourages united states companies to relocate operations and jobs overseas how about using those revenues to create some jobs and to invest in job training programs which of course the president wants to cut in his budget i think that makes sense to me that's about fairness that's not about tax increases we're not talking about increasing taxes on middle income individuals we're talking about tax fairness restoring some tax fairness to the tax code and i don't believe that anyone in our country would if they knew the bogus nature i think of this argument with regard to what all of us are trying to do to bring some fairness into the tax code i think the american people would say what is wrong with raising revenue from those making over a million dollars a year and they actually didn't really support that tax increase when they received it so what's wrong with creating jobs in our own country rather than giving tax breaks for sending jobs offshore i don't think the american people see that as being  wrong way to use our tax dollars i don't think that they would worry at all about repealing some of these a state taxes and individual tax breaks for the one percent and so i think that when you talk about tax increases we need to be honest and say what we're really talking about and that's giving tax breaks continuing to give tax breaks for the very wealthy while our young people our children our senior citizens the poor low income middle income individuals are struggling to just manage to survive through this this recession that has been created yes by many of these tax cuts but also by this deep hole that we're digging in terms of the iraq progressive caucus proposal because i'm hearing for the first time we want to get beyond partisan positions progressive or conservative we are in fact this is a moral document a budget should be a moral document document we have bipartisan support from catholic charities six by many faith groups from many organizations around the country thank you very much and that's it i channel that's recognized for two minutes i thank you mr chairman and i want to congratulate my friends on the other side of the aisle although we have very strong disagreements i respect their principle and i respect the passion that they bring to the floor in this debate and we on this side of the aisle have our passion  we have our principles and i think mr chairman that it's important to note no matter what democrat budget you're talking about there's really only one democrat budget and they differ from the republican budget in many different ways there's values the government budget r's values the family budget every democrat budget including this progressive budget will increase taxes on the american family the largest single tax increase in american history by over three thousand dollars per family the republican budget will prevent those tax increases while hardworking american families are trying to fill up their car send their kids to college and put food on the table second of all every democrat budget provides the highest the highest amount of government spending we've ever seen more government if you think the answer to your questions is more government then maybe you want this democrat budget if you think the answer to your problems are more freedom more opportunity a secure paying check and greater career opportunities then you want the republican budget the democrat budgets are silent silent on earmark reform they want to preserve the status quo they will continue to take a bite out of people's paychecks again so that some member of congress might keep theirs but for as bad as what the budgets do they are even worse for what they don't do they are stone cold silent on the number one fiscal challenge in the land and that is out of control entitlement spending mr chairman medicare medicaid social security will not be here for future generations and lest we reform them we are on the verge of being the first generation in america's history to leave  generation with a lower standard of living double their taxes with just the government we have today i will not sit idly by nor will any republican and let that happen defeat the democrat budget vote for less government more freedom in our children's the house is working its way through the fiscal year two thousand