Date: 2007-03-28
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman. I must disappoint you. I have no charts. I was in this body a number of years before and then left and came back. and. frankly. I have never seen such a war of charts as we have on the Budget Committee. They are instructive. But facts really matter. Dandy Don Meredith. the famous philosopher on Monday Night Football. once said. "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts. then every day would be Christmas day." And that really describes the Democrats commitment towards not raising taxes. They say it as a matter of policy. but in terms of actually doing it.. they not only wouldnt put it in but they resisted every amendment we brought forward. And they like to talk about. well. lets go back to the last few years. lets see what happened back here and what has happened with the Republicans. I came to this House in 1979. one of the last times the Democrats had control of the White House. control of the House. control of the Senate. and they were talking about budgets then and they were coming forward with their proposals. And what did we have then? We had something called stagflation. We had inflation raging at 13.5 percent. the prime lending rate was 15.3 percent. the unemployment rate was 7.1 percent. Of course. the top marginal rate was 70 percent. They "were resisting tax cuts. We came in and said it might make sense. when President Reagan came in. to reduce marginal rates. to reduce the impact of taxes on the American people. not only because it was fair to them but because the real genius of our economy is the production of jobs in the private sector. And I would like to ask them. what do they think would happen if we go back to their same old days. one of the last times we had. for an extended period of time. the Democrats controlling the Senate. the Democrats controlling the House. and what they want to do in 2 years is control the White House as well. If we move in that direction. we may very well get back to the times of Jimmy Carter when you did all those things. and the worst impact was not on tax rates. was not on inflation. it was on jobs. Jobs. Economists were telling us at that time. following your prescription. that we couldnt have a sustainable rate of unemployment below 6.5 percent. We now have it at 4.5 percent. 4.6 percent. That is the greatest social welfare program we have ever had in this country. jobs to American citizens. And I understand how you have greater faith in the Federal Government. have greater faith in government at all levels to create jobs than do we. but the facts speak for thenselves. Looking at your particular proposal with the tax increases it has. it would not only affect the wealthy. it would affect in my home State of California 12.839.000 people at an average increase of $3.331. Now. you may not want to admit to it. but your increases in spending. your refusal to do anything about the increases in mandatory discretionary spending that are taking place during the lifetime of this budget that you present. and your claim that somehow you dont raise taxes but you magically come up with a balanced budget. it just doesnt add up. It is like that movie. The Illusionist. It may sound good. it may look good. but. you know. you go behind the curtain. and there is nothing there. Now. if you can explain to us how economics would allow you to raise spending. refuse any cuts. refuse to even bring down the rate of spending. and you dont increase taxes but you have a balanced budget. God bless you. Bring your charts out. We would love to see it.