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

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank the gentlewoman for her comments because she is absolutely right. The budget is about priorities. and the priorities that we have in our budget. we believe. address in a very responsible way the challenges that we face in this Nation. What is the Presidents priority? If you look at where his budget would take us. it is debt. This. again. is the chart that demonstrates the debt that this Nation has held since 1940. That is the dark area here. You see the debt has increased since this President came into office. It is at virtually the highest level it has been since World War II. Where does his path go? Where does the Democrats path go in their budget? Higher than ever beforeever beforethat is their plan. apparently. It is what their budget outlines. It is what the Presidents budget outlines. What does that mean? What that means is the interest on the debt. paying the debt service. Everybody knows what interest means. They pay it on their credit cards. They pay it on their home mortgages. They pay interest when they buy a car. That is money that you pay just to be able to borrow the money that you are using for whatever it is. In this instance. the interest on the debt. when we get to numbers not too far away. consumes the entire Federal budget. That is what we are talking about. In a very short period of time. within the budget window of this 10year period of time. interest on the debt rises to over $1 trillion a year. That is more than the amount spent on defense. That is more than the amount spent on Medicare. That is more than the amount spent on Medicaid. That is more than the amount spent on education. All of the priorities that the American people have is going to be spent on interest on the debt. That is why we believe it is a moral question. Are we going to leave our kids this kind of debt? Are we going to destine them to a life that has no opportunity. to have them be servants to the Federal Government just to work so they can send their tax money to Washington to pay the interest on the debt? Mr. Chairman. you know that is not the America we want to leave our kids and our grandkids. I dont believe it is the America that our friends on the other side of the aisle want to leave our kids and grandkids. Sadly. that is what their budget does. That is what the Presidents budget does. That is why we are so excited about A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America. a budget that puts us on a path to balance within less than a 10year period of time and that saves $5.5 trillion. Our friends on the other side say. Oh. no. it really doesnt get to balance. Even if you conceded thatand I dontour goal is to get it to balance. Theirs never does. It is more and more and more borrowing. more debt. more taxes. more spending. It is not what the American people want. What we need to do is to come together and address these challenges that we have in a positive way. in a real way. in an honest way. and get real results for the work that we do here. We are proud of the work that this budget does. It lays out a positive path. a path of real solutions. one of saving and strengthening and securing Medicare and Medicaid. one of tax reform that actually works to get this economy rolling again so we can grow the economy in this country and put people back to work. Those are the positive things that this budget does. The safety net programs are vital. They are important. We protect those programs. We actually make them work better for the individuals who are receiving those moneys. and we encourage them. in a moral way. to better their lives and get back on their feet. We assist them in getting back to work. Those are positive solutions. Mr. Chairman. positive solutions. It is A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America. I reserve the balance of my time.