Date: 2015-04-14
Speaker: TOM PRICE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate the comments that have been made by my colleagues to bring into focus the positive solutions that we have been working for with our budget. I reluctantly oppose the motion to instruct. as it compromises the ability of the conference committee to fashion the best possible solution. I will say. Mr. Speaker. however. that the distortions that have been presented. I think they have gone past frustrating the American people. They anger the American people about the distortion of positions here in Washington. The American people are smarter than that. Our side of the aisle. we are interested in making certain that we assist all Americans. every single American. so that he or she has the greatest opportunity to realize the greatest amount of success in their own dreams. in their own lives. in the way that they deem to be most appropriate. not with Washington dictating to them what they must do. I want to touch on a couple of very specific issues that have been mentioned by my friend from Maryland and others on the other side of the aisle. Our balanced budget proposal gets to balance within a 10year period of time. It does so without raising taxes. and it increases growth. Now. the growth is important. Mr. Speaker. and our friends mentioned it on the other side of the aisle. as if the policies that have been in place over the past 6 years had some magical solution that they increased growth in this country. Well. the fact of the matter. Mr. Speaker. is that as we see it in this chartthis is from the Congressional Budget Office. the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. as my friend from Maryland says. These are the projections of growth that the Congressional Budget Office has had over the last 4 years. Four years ago. 3.0 percent. The average. Mr. Speaker. as you all well know. is about 3.3 percent over the last 40 years. growth in this country. That is in the economy. growing every year. 3.3 percent on average. And the projection 4 years ago was that it would be 3 percent. Three years ago. it was down to 2.9 percent. 2 years ago. 2.5 percent. this year. 2.3 percent. This is lost jobs. lost opportunity. fewer dreams realized all because of the policies coming out of Washington. D.C.. and our friends on the other side want to double down on those policies. Our proposal. our budget that gets to balancewhich our friends on the other side of the aisle and their budget never does. the Presidents budget never gets to balance. something that folks back home cant do. They cant do it in their personal lives. They cant do it in their businesses. Our budget gets to balance and increases growthincreases growthbecause that is what we have got to do. We have got to increase growth in this economy so that more dreams can be realized. more jobs can be created. wages can be increased. The way you increase wages is to increase the vitality of the economy. not have Washington dictate it to people. And then this tired old characterization of our proposal to save and strengthen and secure Medicare and the way that it is characterized is to voucherize it. Well. this is nonsense. Mr. Speaker. and the American people know it. What we propose to do is to save Medicare. not allow it to die on the vine. which is what our friends on the other side of the aisle apparently want to do. Because when you read their policies. they dont do anything to address the insolvency of Medicare that is coming in a very short period of timenot according to me. but according to the Medicare trusteesand what that means is that patients. seniors. wont be able to get provided the services that they have been promised. That is not the right thing to do. Mr. Speaker. Our friends on the other side talk about all the tax loopholes. and goodness knows we have been for cutting tax loopholes and closing tax loopholes before closing tax loopholes was cool. We just cant get out and get folks to rally to the cause in a positive way from our friends on the other side of the aisle. My friend from Maryland knows that the way that that is fashioned is in the Ways and Means Committee. It is not in the Budget Committee. The Budget Committee lays out the vision. lays out the plan. lays out the parameters that are able to be utilized. As my friend from Maryland knows. the Ways and Means Committee is actively working right nowactively working right nowon appropriate tax reform. It was the tax reform proposal that was put forward by our side of the aisle last year that demonstrated our willingness and desire to close loopholes and to end special treatments through the Tax Code. We believe everybody ought to be treated equally in the Tax Code. not have Washington picking winners and losers. which is what our friends on the other side tend to desire. Then again. this distorted notion about healthcare costs and where healthcare costs are going right now. Healthcare costs are down. That is right. Mr. Speaker. Who are they down for? They are down for the Federal Government. Who are they not down for? The American people. That is who they are not down for. What we have done with the Presidents healthcare program is to shift huge costshuge coststo the American people. If you are an individual out there. you make $30.000. $40.000. $50.000 right now. and the coverage that you are able to purchase right nowbecause ObamaCare has a deduction. has a deductible in your health plan of between $6.000 and $12.000. which countless Americans have right now. Let me suggest. Mr. Speaker. that you dont have health coverage because you cant afford the deductible. But that is the proposal that our friends on the other side of the aisle embrace. That is the one that they want to put forward. And who are they harming? They are harming the American people. and the American people know it. They know there is a better solution. They know that there is a better way. There is a positive way. a patientcentered solution manner to be able to get health care back on track. and that is what we propose in the area of health care. With that. Mr. Speaker. I think I have got one more speaker who is desirous of coming to the floor. so I will reserve the balance of my time.