Date: 2015-04-14
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would remind my colleague that when President Obama was sworn in. we were losing 780.000 jobs per monthper month. We were in a nosedive. It took a little while to climb out of that deep valley. but we have now had 61 consecutive months of positive job growth12.1 million jobs. longest streak in history. So job growth is coming back. We have got a ways to go. no doubt about it. We need to do even better. That is why I dont understand a Republican budget that the Congressional Budget Office tells us will slow down economic growth in the next couple years. That is what the nonpartisan budget pros tell us: it will slow down economic growth. Our Republican colleagues say we dont have enough. and yet they have got a budget that the Congressional Budget Office says the next couple of years are going to slow it down just as we are continuing to grow at record levels. They also have a budget. as I indicated. that says to people who are out there working hard: You are going to get squeezed even harder on your takehome pay. You are working harder than ever. but you know what? We are going to actually increase the tax burden on working families. Now. let me say a little thing about this Medicare voucher plan. The way to reduce our healthcare costs is to move toward a system that rewards the delivery of value rather than volume in our healthcare system. And in fact. one of the great untold success stories we know over the last couple years has been because we have begun to move in that direction. we have saved trillions of dollars. over a trillion dollars. without sacrificing quality of care. The problem with the Medicare voucher plan is it doesnt improve health care by changing the incentives to move toward more value and more quality rather than quantity and volume. it actually saves Medicare money by shifting the risk of higher costs onto seniors. In fact. the Congressional Budget Office says that under their plan. those who choose to stay in the feeforservice system would pay 50 percent more in terms of premiums. So that is the realworld impact of that proposal. Now. what are the priorities of our Republican colleagues? We keep hearing that this is a balanced budget. It just isnt so. This is a phony argument. This budget says it is repealing the Affordable Care Act. and yet it only claims balance because of the revenues generated from the Affordable Care Act they claim to repeal. That would make Enron accountants blush. What else? This Thursday in this House we are scheduled to vote on a proposal to get rid of the estate tax on estates for couples of over $10 million$10 million. That is about 5.500 people a year. A cruise ship fits more people than that. Here is what it does. For all of the estates in the country. lets just be clear what the Republican budget looks out for and what the bill they are bringing to the floor this week looks out for. Blue. the 99.85 percent. are the estates that already are not impacted at all. The bill they are bringing to the floor of the House this week is for that teeny little sliver of red. .15 percent of estates. That is what the Republican budget is all about. and that is what they are looking out for in a budget that cuts our kids education funding. cuts our investment in scientific research. and increases the tax burden on working families. That is what this is all about. Guess what. this estate tax cut for estates of couples over $10 million is not factored into the Republican budget. That loses $268 billion in revenue over the next 10 years. That is not accounted for in the budget they are talking about today. Two days from today. they are going to bring to the floor a bill that busts their own budget. That is pretty amazing. and the claim that it balances is just a phony claim. Finally. while it is providing those big tax breaks to estates of over $10 million. it doesnt close a single tax loophole for the purpose of reducing the deficitnot one. not for corporate jets. not for hedge fund managers. not one tax loophole closed. when they claim they want to reduce the deficit. When you dig a little deeper. Mr. Speaker. this Republican budget is wrong for the country. It is great for folks who have already climbed that ladder. Most people who climb the ladder want to keep that ladder there. so more people can climb up. but this is a budget where people who climbed it just yanked the ladder up and said: Were on the top. Forget about the rest. Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin . one of the people who will be designated as one of my fellow conferees.