Date: 2015-03-25
Speaker: TOM PRICE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. My friend from Maryland will be pleased to know that our vision for tax reform is positive. robust. and makes certain that all Americans benefit. That is what our budget does. It lifts up all Americans. We dont pick winners and losers. We are not interested in dividing the country. What our friends on the other side seem to have as their stock in trade is dividing. pitting one American against another. That is not America. Good gracious almighty. Lets talk about taxes. They want to increase taxes as far as the eye can see. They dont want to bring about any spending reductions. understanding that what is happening right now in terms of the debt in this country. what we have got is a level of debt that was only surpassed during World War II. This is a chart that demonstrates the debt of this country from 1940 through 2040. projections from 2015 on. Our debt right now is at a level that was only surpassed at the end of World War II. And where does current law take it? Where does the budget that our friends on the other side of the aisle propose take the debt? Higher than ever beforeever in the history of the country. What does that red line mean? It means fewer jobs. fewer opportunity choices for individuals. fewer dreams realized. Mr. Chairman. This red line is the destruction of the American Dream. That is what it is. That is why our Balanced Budget for a Stronger America is the way to go. It gets our economy under control. gets the economy rolling again. gets the debt under control. gets us to balance. and puts us on a path to paying off the debt. What do they want to do with spending? It follows the same tried and failed plan of more spending. with the promise of deficit reduction and economic growth later. which never occurs. We have tried it before. We know the results. What did we achieve for all the spending that our friends on the other side of the aisle have brought about? The lowest labor force participation rates in decades. What does that mean? Fewer people working. Mr. Chairman. Poverty rates stuck at high levels. Twenty percent of the kids in this country are living in poverty right now. That is under the policies that these folks want to double down on. We have seen the Washington metropolitan area is the home of 6 of the 10 richest counties in all of America. That is a Federal Government that has grown beyond all proportion. And we have seen. as I mentioned. levels of debt that havent been seen since the end of World War II. So. if more government spending led to higher growth in job creation. we would be experiencing an economic boom the likes of which we have never seen. But the economic track record of recent years clearly has been abysmal. Real GDP growth over the past 4 years averaged just over 2 percent. where the average of the last 40 years is over 30 percent. Those are real jobs. Mr. Chairman. that have been lost by this administration and by our friends who want to double down. It is the slowest recovery that we have ever had coming out of an economic downturn. The labor force participation rate is at 62.8 percent. the lowest level in over 35 years. Roughly 8.7 million Americans are currently unemployed. and those who are working have seen meager. meager real wage growth. So more taxes. no spending reductions. more spending. more debt. more destruction of jobs. more destruction of dreams. Sadly. that is what our friends on the other side of the aisle are proposing. A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America is the way to go. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.