Date: 2012-03-29
Speaker: PAUL RYAN (republican)
Chamber: H

We went from there. and we talked about the Democratic budget drafted by Mr. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN. And then. of course. the Progressive Caucus budget came up. the Black Caucus budget came up. I think Mr. MULVANEY came up with a budget proposal. They put the Presidentsa very. very watered down and inaccurate version of the Presidents budget up there. and weve been talking budget. Mr. Speaker. when we talk about the budget. what were talking about is the values and priorities of America. Its important to keep this in mind. What shows up in your budget is what you care about. What does not show up in your budget is what you dont care about. Now. Mr. Speaker. I always caution people not to just take their family budget and the United States budget and assume theyre basically the same thing. one just is bigger than the other. Thats not exactly accurate. There are important differences. and we shouldnt mix up the two. But in this way they are similar in that they reflect what it is that people value. If you have a family and their budget. you can look at their budget. they spend a lot of money on entertainment. you can pretty much figure they value that. If they put a lot of money into food. you can figure they definitely think that is a priority for them. You can go through the family budget and see what people spend their money on. see what people dont have in their budget. and then you can pretty much figure. well. maybe thats not a priority for them. Of course. they may not be able to afford it at this time. But if you talk about reasonably middle class people. their budget reflects what they care about. what matters and what doesnt. And for our Nation. that certainly is true. If our Nation puts more money into warfare than it does into social uplift. jobs and the economy and infrastructure. that says something about who we are. If our national budget puts more money into infrastructure and jobs and putting people back to work. then that says something about who we are. The various budgets that have come up. Mr. Speaker. reflect what the various caucuses think is important and project a vision for our country. I want to talk about that today. I want to start by talking about PAUL RYANs budget. PAUL RYAN is the Republican Budget Committee chair. Hes a nice guy. I dont have anything bad to say about him personally because he is actually a nice person. But the fact is we disagree in a significant way about what the priorities of America should be. For example. the Republican budget. 20 children will lose access to Head Start to pay for one millionaires tax cut. Thats their budget. Just if you want to understand what their tax cuts represent. it means 20 kids dont get to go to Head Start so that a millionaire can get a tax cut150.000 equals 20 times 7.500. So. if you look at this tax cut. a millionaires tax cut. which will amount to about $150.000. these little guys dont get to go to Head Start. Now. what is Head Start? Head Start is a great program for lowincome kids to make sure that they have a chance at getting a quality education and dont fall behind in school. And so this is a great program. It has great results. These Head Start kids. 20 of them going to Head Start. versus what a millionaires tax cut would be. which is $150.000. Now. this is the choice were making. Mr. Speaker. we should not act like were not making choices. We are making choices. We are deciding. My friends on the Republican side of the aisle like to say. oh. we shouldnt pick winners and losers. Were always doing it. They just pick the rich people. and weIpick the kids in Head Start. Also. Mr. Speaker. if you just want to get a sense of what the Republican budget. what it does and what the tax cuts that its calling for mean. Republican budget. 150 college students will have their Pell Grants cut by $1.000 to pay for one millionaires tax cut. So one millionaires tax cut. $150.000. but 150 times 1.000. all these kids. these college kids trying to make something of themselves. their Pell Grant is going to get whacked by 1.000 bucks. So again. choices. Do we want to make sure the country club set is doing even better. or do we want to make sure that these aspiring engineers. these aspiring doctors and teachers. these aspiring police officers. these aspiring workers of tomorrow. will have a shot at an affordable college education? This is what were talking about. These are the choices that were making. Mr. Speaker. and I think its very important that Americans know it. Its critical that we know it. Now. lets just not stop there. Lets talk about other critical choices being made. Mr. Speaker. Because I think it is so critical that as were talking budget week and all the budget decisions that we are making. that we make it real clear to the American people what it is were choosing. Republican budget: 216 pregnant or postpartum women. infants. and children would lose access to WICthats the Women. Infants and Children program. and it provides food for poor women and their kidsto pay for one millionaires tax cut. So. $150.000 tax cut for a millionaireagain. this is the country club setequals about 216 pregnant women or postpartum women and the amount of money that Americans give them so that they can have good nutrition for their kids. These are poor women. These are women who are struggling economically. But just because theyre struggling economically. we dont want their kids to go without good. nutritious food. So as Americans. we have the WIC program. Well. theyre going to get slashed out of the program because a millionaire needs a tax cut. Thats the choice that were making. I want to talk about why were making that choice in a minute. but I want to give one more example. Republican budget: 25 seniors paying $6.000 or more for Medicare to pay for one millionaires tax cut. So. if youre a millionaire and you get a tax cut under what the Republicans want to give youyoure already doing good. but they want you to even do betterthat will mean that youve got about 25 seniors who have to pay $6.000 a piece more for their Medicare. So. Mom. Dadif youre my age. Mom and Dad are senior citizens. If youre younger. theyre not. But if your parents or grandparents are on Medicare and theyre doing all they can on their fixed income to make it. theyre going to need a little extra help because weve got to make sure that that millionaire gets his $150.000 tax cut. These are the choices that were making. Now. my friends in the Republican caucusGod bless themits not like they dont like poor people. Many of them are very charitable. They give in their different walks of life. maybe their faith community. or whatever. they just dont think government should do it. This is what they say. They think that government needs to get out of that and let churches. mosques. synagogues. and other folks do it. Of course. that would mean that it wouldnt get done. because even though churches. mosques. and synagogues do great work. they can never possibly come up to meet the need thats out there. What theyre really believing isthis is what they really believe: They believe in something called trickledown economics. They believe that if you give this millionaire 150.000 more dollars than he already has. he will maybe. hopefully. perhaps invest it in plant and equipment and maybe somebody will get a job because of it. Or maybe not. Or maybe he will invest in China. Hell improve jobs. but just not in America. Nobody knows what they will do with this tax cut. but this is what the Republicans believe. They think that if you give rich people more money. they will invest in plant and equipment. create more economic activity. and it will trickle down to the rest of us. The only problem is that it has never worked. It doesnt stop them from saying it. but its never worked. In fact. the GOP budget will destroy more than 4 million American jobs in the next 2 years. according to the Economic Policy Institute. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that: The shock to aggregate demand from nearterm spending cuts would result in roughly 1.3 million jobs lost in 2013. and 2.8 million jobs lost in 2014. or 4.1 million jobs through So. a little bit more than 4 million jobs over the next 2 years. Now. people might think. well. KEITH. is that right? Well. yeah. its right. And Ill tell you why its right. Its right because when Republicans say we need to cut government waste. we need to cut government. cut government. cut government. they act as if theres just some Big Government thing over there. like its a big giant piece of Styrofoam and they can just cut it and it doesnt change anything. What theyre talking about cutting are Federal workers. Theyre talking about laying off Federal workers. And theyre very derisive about government jobs and act like people who work for the government dont do anything of valueof course this is not true at all. But if you look on this chart right here. Mr. Speaker. it says: I earn less than $45.000 a year. Explain to me. GOP. how cutting my pay creates jobs. This particular person is named Paul. and he is an Army depot worker. I think we need Army depot workers. Teresa is a nurseand this is her right here. She lives in my district. And she says: Twelve percent of the salary I earn caring for veterans goes to my retirement. Explain to me. GOP. how cutting my retirement puts people to work. Well. one of the things that they do in the Ryan budget is cut into Federal workers retirement. They act like. oh. the government. No. the government is people. The government is nurses. The government is Army depot workers. And what about Federal prisons that keep dangerous criminals behind bars: I pay more than $9.000 a year for my familys health insurance. Explain to me. GOP. how cutting my takehome pay lowers unemployment. This guy is a corrections officer. And thank goodness for correction officers or the streets that we live on wouldnt be so nice. The bottom line is. when Republicans say. oh. were going to shrink the size of government. what they mean is theyre going to lay off and cut the pay and cut the employment benefits of Federal workers. people who work in prisons at risk to themselves. nurses who care for our veterans. people who are Army depot workers. and people who work in our parks and people who fix our roads and a whole lot of other people. Heres a chart for you. Mr. Speaker. If you look at the Ryan budget. if you look at the GOP proposal. if you look at it and it could do what they want it to do. it could cause a loss of up to 7 million jobs by 2016. Because it would cut Federal workers. and then they wouldnt be able to have the money to spend in the neighborhoods they live in anymore. That would then have a ripple effect in their neighborhoods because theyre buying less. For example. if that young nurse at the VA in Minnesota. if she doesnt have the same pay as she had before. then she cant buy as much as she bought before. then the company she shops at doesnt sell her as much as they have before. You do that enough. multiply it times enough people. and that company then needs to start laying off people. So its a ripple effect. what the Republicans are asking for. But if you look at what they wantedand Im talking about going all the way back to H.R. 1. which is their proposalyou would see repealing health care reform. that would cut about $2 million. the GOP budget. that would cut about $3 million. cuts to the Federal workforce. that would cut about 285.000. the socalled JOBS Act. that would cut a lot. the Fair Tax. that would cut. and they would just cut on down the line. What theyre basically proposing is by shrinking government and by doing all that stuff. theyre getting rid of people. Now. I just want to be on the record because your words do get twisted. If there is a Federal program that is not justifiable. and its so poorly run that its of no value to anyone. Im okay with cutting it. I just want to say that on the record on the House floor. Mr. Speaker. Im all right with cutting programs that dont work. But when youre talking about VA nurses and youre talking about corrections workers in Federal prisons. we need these people. They do good stuff. And I believe that we should stand by them as they stand by us. The GOP budgetnow going back to the budget we addressed todaywill shift costs to seniors for the Medicare guarantee. according to the AARP. And whats AARP? Thats the leading organization representing retired persons. And the CBOwhats the CBO? That is the Congressional Budget Office. And for folks who like to watch CSPAN. Id just say. Mr. Speaker. you need to know what CBO is because this is very important. Congressional Budget Office. Theyre the nonpartisan group that says whats really going on with the numbers. At the same time. it is raising the seniors cost. This GOP budget gives those making more than a million a year an average tax cut of about $394.000. So I put 150 up there a moment ago. That was the generic millionaire. The actual number is about 394 for the average millionaire. per year. on the average tax cut. And also. the tax breaks for Big Oil companies. You know. they get about $4 billion a year. Im talking about if you look at Conoco. ExxonMobil. and all the Big Oil companies. they get about $4 billion a year. Now how much did you pay for gasoline? Im not saying that theyre not good people. Im not saying that they dont run a good business and supply an important product. Im just asking you this: Does ExxonMobil really need your money through a tax subsidy? Do they? I think that they dont need your money. I think their $4 a gallon is taking care of them just fine. And I think its outrageous that the Republican budget that we dealt with does not eliminate that tax break. In short. the Big Oil companies who are gouging Americans at the pump and the wealthiest Americans win. while middle class and working class families get the short end of the stick. Last year. oil profitsand this is an exact number or close to it. Last year. Big Oil profits totaled about $137 billion. But you dont need to remember $137 billion. All you need to remember is Big Oil profits were the biggest ever that the oil industry ever had. And yet were forking it over to them through our tax money. not through the pumps. Some people might think. well. of course were paying them. KEITH. through the pump. They give us gas. Weve got to get to work. so we need to buy the gas. Im not talking about that. Im saying they getthey can apply for grants and subsidies. and it all adds up to about $4 billion a year. With soaring gasoline prices. Big Oils 2012 profits will even be bigger. Yet Republicans want to give Big Oil more money in our tax dollars. and it just doesnt make any sense. Now. of course you shouldnt expect the Big Oil companies like ExxonMobil to say we dont want the money. Of course they want the money. Who doesnt want money? Everybody does. including them. But the people who have a public responsibility to look out for the American people should be willing to say "no" to public subsidies for the ExxonMobils of this world. And again. if you work for ExxonMobil. Im not running you down. Im just saying that youre doing well enough and you dont need the help of the American people. You can do fine on your own. Now. those kids on Head Start need help. They need help. Those college kids need help. but not ExxonMobil executives. The major consequence for Medicare and Medicaid. the Ryan budget. the Republican budget. has big consequences for Medicaid and Medicare. Many seniors will be forced to pay sharply higher premiums to stay in traditional Medicare and keep their current choice of doctors. New Medicare beneficiaries would pay more than $1.200 more by 2030 and more than 6.000 by 2050. Before. more seniors would gradually shift to private health insurance plans over time. increasing privatization of Medicare. More than 47 million Americans would lose health care insurance over 10 years because they would get rid of ObamaCare. Now. my friends in the Republican aisle. when they say "ObamaCare." they dont mean it in a nice way. Its an insult. But you know what? Obama does care. so I dont mind them saying "ObamaCare." I hope they keep saying it. because theyre just reminding Americans that Obama cares about them and that the people the Republicans want to look out for apparently do not. States. under the Republican plan. would be forced to slash Medicaid eligibility benefits and payments to health care providers. Their budget shreds the Medicaid safety net and shifts health care costs to States and beneficiaries. blocking Medicaid. This shifts all risks. including future recessions. health care cost increases. and disasters to States and beneficiaries. So. heres the thing. This Ryan budget. this Republican Ryan budget. it helps and takes care of the rich. It ignores everyone else. and it hurts the middle class. The Republican budget would weaken the middle class in important ways. First and foremost. their plan ends the Medicare guarantee of decent health insurance in retirement. It also slashes critical middle class investments such as education and infrastructure by 45 percent and 24 percent. respectivelyeducation by 45 percent. infrastructure by 24 percent. Now. look. The American Society of Civil Engineers. Mr. Speaker. has told us that we have crumbling infrastructure in this country to the tune of about $2.2 to $3 trillion. a lot of money. And if you are living in any city across this country. you can drive over 75yearold bridges. You can drive over potholes. Our sewage systems need upgrade. I am from Minneapolis. Minnesota. a city I love so much. but back a few years ago. we had a bridge fall into the Mississippi River because the gusset plates. which are those plates that hold up the bridge. gave way because the adequate maintenance just wasnt maintained over time. Now. it happened to us. but it could happen anywhere. There are many structurally deficient bridges across this Nation. literally thousands. We could put people back to work if we put the money into taking care of them. And not only would we have people working. wed have to save bridges to go over. But the Republican majority. to use their phrase. kicks the can down the road and doesnt deal with this looming infrastructure crisis. So let me just say this. Ive talked a little bit about the socalled Ryan Republican budget. I dont want to spend all my time talking about it. but I do think its important for Americans to know that this is a budget for the 1 percent. This is a budget for people whove got it well. who are doing fine. Now. let me just tell you. I swear. I am a big fan of welltodo people. I wish I were one of them. But my point is that you dont need to help people who already have a lot of help on their own. but you do need to help schoolkids. Head Start kids. pregnant moms. pregnant lowincome moms. seniors. These people we should help. People who are doing fine. they dont need our help. They should do the helping. in my opinion. And yet the Ryan budget says were just going to help the country club set. and I think thats not any way to have a budget. Im going to talk about the Progressive Caucus budget. but I just want you to know. first. that the Ryan Republican budget is no good budget for America. In fact. its premised on the theory that rich people dont have enough money and poor people have too much. Really. Thats the animating. organizing feature of their budget. that if we gave rich people more money. then they might invest it in plant and equipment. and then itll trickle down to the rest of us. And poor people have too much stuff. we cant afford it. We cant afford Head Start. cant afford WIC. cant afford home heating oil for seniors. cant afford Medicare. cant afford Medicaid. The poor folks are just. theyre getting treated too well. And thats basically what the theory is of the Republican budget. and so thats fine. And I respect them for being real honest about what they believe in. because a budget is a reflection of our values. So now that weve talked about what theyre talking about. lets talk about a real budget. not for the 1 percent. but a budget for all. The Progressive Caucus budget has a name. The name of the Progressive Caucus budget is the Budget for All. Thats the name of the Progressive Caucus budget because. unlike the Republicans budget. which is a budget for the 1 percent. this is a budget for all. Let me tell you what it does. Mr. Speaker. It creates 3.3 million jobs in the first 2 years. It cuts the deficit by nearly 7 trillion. $6.8 trillion. no benefit cuts to Medicare. Medicaid and Social Security. The Budget for All makes the American Dream a reality again for the vast majority of Americans. By putting Americans back to work. the Budget for All enhances our economic competitiveness by rebuilding the middle class and investing in innovation and education. Our budget protects Medicare and Medicaid. Social Security. invests in Americas future. and asks those who have benefited the most from our economy to pay their fair share. Now. as I said. you cant have a budgetyou can have a budget that cuts taxes for rich people if you then cut services for poor people. And you can have a budget that pays for infrastructure and education. but the money has to come from somewhere. And we ask people who already have lots of it to do a little more for their fellow Americans. Were not hiding that fact. Yes. we would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Not to punish them. because we dont think taxes are punishment. but because its necessary to meet the needs of the Nation and any selfrespecting patriot would do so if they could. In fact. there is a group out thereand I would urge you to check them out. Mr. Speakercalled Patriotic Millionaires who understand that they may need to pay higher taxes. If you already are making a million dollars a year. would you pay a little extra just to make sure that lowincome pregnant women got some food for their kids? If you are already making a million or more a year. would you pay a little extra to make sure that little kids had Head Start to go to? If youre already making a million dollars a year. Mr. Speaker. would you pay a little extra just to make sure that the Federal workers dont have their pensions cut to pay for your tax cut? Thats just my thinking. I dont want anybody to think the Republicans are mean. They do charitable work in their individual lives. and thats a fact and I think people ought to know that. But they dont think government has any role in helping people. I disagree with that and call on Americans. Mr. Speaker. to look carefully at the choices that they offer. The Budget for All is not a budget for the 1 percent. its not a budget for the 99 percent. but a budget for all because we care about the 1 percent too. We want even the 1 percent to live in a good Nation with fairness. with economic opportunity. with economic mobility. with good roads. good bridges. good education. clean water. clean air. We want this for everyone. The Budget for All attacks Americas persistently high unemployment levels with more than $2.4 trillion over 10 years in jobcreating investment. This plan utilizes every tool at the governments disposal to get our economy moving again. including directhire programs that create School Improvement Corps. Park Improvement Corps. Student Jobs Corps. and others. targeted tax incentives that spur clean energy. manufacturing. cuttingedge technological investment in the private sector. widespread domestic investment. including an infrastructure bank. a $556 billion surface transportation. unlike this thing that they tried to pass today. which is a 3month extension. By the way. Mr. Speaker. can you believe it. the Republican caucus is always going on and on about uncertainty. What did they do? They created uncertainty by passing some 3month transportation bill. My goodness. it boggles the mind actually. Back to the Budget for All. There is approximately $1.7 trillion in widespread domestic investment. Unlike the Republican budget. the Budget for All substantially reduces the deficit and does so in a way that does not devastate what Americans value. We achieve these notable benchmarks by focusing on the true drivers of our deficit: unsustainable tax policy. wars overseas. and the policies that helped cause the recent recession. rather than putting the middle class and the social safety net on the chopping block. The budget creates a fairer America. it ends tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans on schedule at the years end. extends tax relief for middle class households and the vast majority of Americans. creates new tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires in line with the Buffett Rule principle. eliminates Tax Code preferential treatment for capital gains and dividends. abolishes corporate welfare for oil. gas. and coal companies. eliminates loopholes that allow businesses to dodge their true tax liability. creates a publicly funded Federal election system that gets corporate money out of politics for good. It responsibly and expeditiously ends our military presence in Afghanistan. leaving America more secure at home and abroad. It also adapts our military to address 21st century threats through modernization. The Department of Defense will spend less and stop contributing to the deficit. but they will have what they need to keep America strong. which is very important to all of us. It provides a makingworkpay tax credit for families struggling with high gas and food costs. extends an earned income tax credit and child dependent care credit. invests in programs to stave off further foreclosure. invests in childrens education by increasing education. training. and social services. The Budget for All is a budget for all. I know that sounds repetitive. but its important to note that the name of our budget reflects the reality of our budget. and the reality of our budget is that we want to see rich. poor. and everybody in the middle do well in America. That means a budget for all. As I begin to wind down. Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that it is an honor to come before you to talk about the Budget for All. but its also an honor to talk about the Ryan Republican budget because the Ryan Republican budget offers a very different vision of America than the Budget for All. The Ryan vision says that if we just could get rich people more money. they might create some plants and equipment that will hire the rest of us. The Budget for All says: No. were in this together. and were going to ask the wealthiest to pay more to invest in health. education. transportation. and infrastructure so that we can have a stronger. better. greater America. Two visions of a Nation. One says austerity for the middle and working class and the poor. and one says investment. One says if you are out of luck. youre on your own. and one says as Americans. were all in this together. I want to thank you. Mr. Speaker. for allowing me to be here and offer these contrasts. these choices for Americans as we close out what I call Budget Week. I yield back the balance of my time.