Date: 2015-03-24
Speaker: TOM PRICE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself the balance of my time. In closing. we have heard a lot of conversation this afternoon about the budget. a lot of hyperbole. a lot of misinformation. I would suggest. I suspect that those out there watching. if they are looking at this. have said to their spouses: hide the kids and pets. dear. they are talking about the budget. Let me set the record straight on a couple of items. Some folks on the other side have talked about the research budget is being decimated. Table one in the budget report has a line item for general science. space. and technology. That is research and innovationfor 2016. $28.381 billion. in going to 2025. $34.488 billion. for the 10year window. $313 billion to research and innovation. Chairman RYAN. early on in this conversation. in this debate. talked about all of the hyperbole on the other side and of the words "slashing" and "cutting" and "decimating" and "destroying." Mr. Chairman. what the other side proposes. what the President proposes. is a growth in the budget of 5.1 percent on average. That is what gets you this amount of debt. It crowds out everything else that we want to do in our society. Our growth rate. 3.4 percent3.4 percent. That is what gets you A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America. Now. my friend talks about the productivity in this country. and it is true. productivity is up. but let me talk about the growth. If they want to double down on the policies that we have had for the last 6 years. lets talk about what has happened. This is the Congressional Budget Office estimate of growth over the ensuing 10 years: in 2012. they predicted that the growth was going to average 3 percent. in 2013. 2.9 percent. in 2014. 2.5 percent. this year. 2.3 percent growth over the next 10 years. Now. what does that mean? What that means is that a full percent growth off the average growth rate over the last 40 years. and such a distinctive decrease in growth that jobs arent going to be able to be created at the numbers that they need to be. that the economy doesnt get to be roaring at the way that it needs to be. that revenue into the Federal Government is diminished because the growth isnt projected to be what it ought to be. How much? Is it a little bit? If weif. when. we are able to adopt the policies in our budget. A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America projection. we would suggest that we can return to the average growth rate of the last 40 years. 3.2. 3.3 percent. What that means is more jobs. more activity. more economic vitality out there. What that means is nearly $3 trillion. $3 trillion more to the Federal Government in terms of revenue just because of the increased activity in our economy. Imagine what we could do with those kinds of resources. to balance the budget. to get this economy going again. to allow the American people to realize their dreams in so many. many wonderful and vital ways. How do you do that? You do that with tax reform. You do that with tax reform. My friends on the other side of the aisle say: Well. no. you havent identified what you are going to do. No. that is the responsibility of the Committee on Ways and Means. The budget lays out the pathway. and then the committees of jurisdiction go to work and accomplish that pathway. put in place the programs that would accomplish that pathway. A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America. I want to reiterate once again. remember. Mr. Chairman. that every dollar that is taken in taxes from the American people and every dollar that is borrowed is a dollar that cant be used to pay the rent. cant be used to buy a house. cant be used to buy a car. cant be used to send a kid to college. cant be used to expand or to begin a business. So what we need are positive solutions. real solutions. honest solutions. like we put forward in our budget. Highlights once again: We balance the budget in less than 10 years without raising taxes. Our budget decreases spending by over $5.5 trillion in the 10year budget window-$5.5 trillioninstead of adding trillions of dollars of spending. We support a strong national defense. we have defined that. $613 billion combined with base defense spending and global war on terror spending. We repeal ObamaCare in its entirety. once again. as a physician. not just because it is harming the economy. but it is also harming the health of the American people. We secure economic opportunity for all citizens. We dont leave anybody behind. We recognize the imperative and the opportunity that is so necessary for folks. We do. however. believe that there are places where appropriate federalism ought to occur. where States and local communities can better respond to the needs of their citizens. whether it is in the area of health care. whether it is in the area of nutritional assistance. or whether it is in the area of education. something that so many State legislatures and so many Governors are talking about as we speak. We hold Washington accountable. We think it is important to have a right size of Washington. not an expanded Federal bureaucracy that continues to overreach and continues to affect adversely. in regulatory schemes. the lives of the American people. We cut waste and fraud and abuse all across the Federal Government. defining areas that need to be audited and where we need to find savings. The American people. the hardworking American people. they are sick and tired of the kind of waste in this government. We support rights of conscience for physicians all across this land. and we push back on the executive overreach. This is A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America. It will result in a greater efficiency. greater effectiveness. and greater accountability of this government. I urge my colleagues to support A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America. I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. All time for general debate on the congressional budget has expired.