Date: 2015-04-30
Speaker: TOM PRICE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker. I guess it is appropriate that we begin the process of this debate that is called "and now for the rest of the story." For folks who are watching and for our colleagues who have been observing this debate and want more information. I would urge you to go to the Web site and take a peek at the resolution. budget.house.gov. You can get all sorts of information about the positive solutions that we are putting forward. It is not just our opinion. We have got a lot of folks who are out there supporting the resolution that we put forward. The 60 Plus Association says: On behalf of more than 7 million senior citizen activists. the 60 Plus Association applauds the leadership of you and Senate Budget Committee Chairman ENZI in putting forth a responsible balanced budget plan. Not only will this legislation protect todays seniors. but it will also protect our children and grandchildren. The National Federation of Independent Business says: On behalf of the NFIB. the Nations leading small business advocacy organization. thank you for your efforts . . . NFIB and smallbusiness owners strongly support your efforts. U.S. Chamber of Commerce: the worlds largest business federation representing interests of more than 3 million businessesthose are jobs. Mr. Speakerof all sizes. sectors. and regions strongly supports your resolution. The Association of Mature American Citizens: On behalf of 1.3 million members of AMAC ... I am writing to applaud the House and Senate for working to pass a budget this year and to convey our strong support for the policies set forth therein. There is significant support literally from across the country. Mr. Speaker. I want to address some very specific issues that have come forward because. as I say. now. it is time for the rest of the story. Our friends talk about the lack of growth within our budget. In fact. that is not the case. In fact. the Congressional Budget Office stipulates that over $400 million in growth will occur in the first 10year period of time. We believe it will be much more than that because we believe in a dynamic market. We believe that. when you allow the economy to thrive. when you allow folks to have more jobs and more opportunity and more dreams realized. that in fact you get the economy rolling to a greater degree and actually more increase in growth will occur within the economy. We have heard from our friends on the other side about all these tax increases that are in this budget. Mr. Speaker. let me tell you very clearly: there are no tax increases in this budget. We balance the budget within a 10year period of time with no tax increases. What they describe is their extrapolation on what they think policy is going to be. As you know and our colleagues in this Chamber know. it is not the Budget Committee that brings forward tax resolutions. It is the Ways and Means Committee. We charge the Ways and Means Committee with coming forward with progrowth tax policy to get this economy rolling again and to actually get rates downyes. for large and small businesses. so that we can create more jobs. but. yes. Mr. Speaker. for the American people as well. That is our vision. That is our goal. That is what we think ought to occur again so that more dreams can be realized and more Americans can have the kind of opportunity that they so desire. We have heard a lot of talk about student loans. Mr. Speaker. this budget resolution does not decrease student loans. does not decrease the Pell grants. It is important that the American people know that. If you dont believe it. just go to the Web site. Read the resolution at budget.house.gov. We have heard over and over and over again about the talk on health care. In fact. one individual on the other side of the aisle said we were "taking away health care from 16 million." Nonsense. Mr. Speaker. nonsenseit just simply is not so. What we believe is that we ought to have a healthcare system that actually works for patients and families and doctors and allows them to make medical decisions and healthcare decisions. not Washington. D.C.. not the Federal Government. That is not what the American people want. We are mired in a system right now that the President forced down the throats of the American people and our friends on the other side of the aisle forced down the throats of those of us in this Congress a few short years ago. We are mired in a system that actually is providing less quality of care and less affordability and less access to care. That is not what we believe ought to happen. What we do is charge the committees with coming forward with that patient -centered solution. a solution that will again put patients and families and doctors in charge. Then we hear about continuing the sequester. You are right. We do follow the law of the land. Mr. Speaker. because the budget resolution cant change the sequester. I challenge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and I invite them to work together as we move forward over the next number of months to get together and solve the challenge of sequester in a responsible way by decreasing spending on the mandatory side so that we can find the resources that are so vitally necessary on the discretionary side. I welcome the opportunity to work with my colleagues. Mr. Speaker. this is a budget that gets our Nations fiscal house in order. It is a budget that would get folks back to work. It is a budget that would save and strengthen and secure Medicare and Medicaid. put us on a path to saving Social Security. It is a budget that protects our national defense. It is a budget that deserves support in this Chamber. I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker. Id like to take this opportunity to thank the staff of the House Budget Cornmittee and the Office of the Sixth District of Georgia. We are on the cusp of agreeing to this budget resolution. due in large part. to the hard work and dedication of my staff. For the past four months. they have worked many long hours and out of the spotlight to help build a budget that balances within 10 years. It has been an honor to work with each of these staff members as they have helped craft a budget this Congress can be proud of. and the staff should be proud of what they have helped accomplish.