Date: 1995-01-26
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. Members. I am proud to be here tonight to loin with three of my colleagues from Houston who today voted against the balanced budget amendment and to explain the impact it will have not only on the city of Houston. but also Harris County. The House passed the balanced budget amendment tonight by 300 votes. But what I am concerned about is we do not know. and neither do the American people. what we are actually. doing with the balanced budget amendment. The chart I have here. and we are again the three of us from Harris County. are sharing this. We will talk about the impact on Harris County and Houston. TX. If the balanced budget amendment is passed. Houston. Harris County. stands to lose $488 million in the first year alone. Over the 7 years our county will lose $15 billion of Federal funds that now come into our county. Tonight we did not have the votes to exempt out Social Security from the balanced budget amendment. so it is part of the package- It could be cut over the next 7 years. But this package here on the impact does not include Social Security. The impact of it. and Republican majority spelled out in their Contract With America. or on America4 they have not spelled out where the spending cuts are going to be. so I think we owe it to our constituents to say. "Whats going to happen in our communities?" The NBCWail Street Jdurnal poll shows that Americans support a balanced budget amendment by 71 to 16 percent. but twothirds of the Americans oppose it if you are going to cut Medicare. Medicaid. or veterans benefits. And today. Congress. we could not even exempt out Social Security. not even considering Medicare. Medicaid. and veterans. We -have a veterans hospital in Houston that serves a lot of our constituents. and yet that could be cut because there is no provision to safeguard veterans benefits. The balanced budget amendment will impact on Houston. could be on the Meals and Wheels. as our colleague. the gentlewoman from Florida . pointed out on Meals on Wheels. By the year 2002. 1410 seniors from the numbers today will not be served meals. We are not talking about the increase- in the seniors for next year. the year after. who may beeligible. but 1.100 seniors less than today that are being served would be cut. Our attorney generals office. who use as. a $1.2mllion next year of .Federal funding for child support enforcement. will not be able to do that. will not be able to make deadbeat fathers and mothers pxy for their children. This last 2 years in Congress. along with my colleague. the -gentleman from California . we spent all odr time working on chapter I funding. or title I funding. for education. for children at risk. In Harris County alone next year 54.8 million will be eat from our Harris County schools. not just Houston Independent School District. but Galena Park. Aldine. Goose Creek. and Baytown- In fact we have some exemplary programs in the Houston Independent School District. Travis Elementary. and Love Elementary. and they would be cut because of the Federal funding cut. We are applying this 20 percent cut acrosstheboard for education funding. and this would impact every school in the 29th District. In 1996. 4.800 women. infants and children will lose their funding for nutrition supplements. That is unless the Texas legislature meeting now. or the city council in Houston. picks up the funding for that. and so we are transferring that responsibility from the Federal Government. who now pays for it. to the cities. to the States and to our counties. Earler. 2 weeks ago. the majority leader. who is also a Texan. said on Meet the Press. "The fact of the matter is once Members of Congress know exactly chapter and verse the pain that government will live with in order to balance a government. their knees will buckle." That is why they did not want to specify today. That is why we could not even pass an amendment excluding Social Security. But the people need to know what is happening and what will happen to them. even considering Social Security. the many other programs. veterans. Medicare. that is not even excluded. So. this has a direct impact. not only on people all over the country. but the people that I represent and the people that live in the city of Houston in Harris County. and this chart shows that very well. The GOP put the squeeze on Houston. and It is going to be transferring that authority to the city of Houston. to our county commissioners court and to the Texas legislature. and that is the impact of it. I say. "Lets dont buy a pig in a poke. Lets know what we aar voting on before we do so."