Date: 2012-03-28
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me start by thanking the chairman of the Budget Committee for the way hes conducted the proceedings in the committee. and I look forward to a debate on the floor because as the chairman said. we have very deep differences. We do not have a difference on the question of whether or not we should reduce the deficits and the debt. Of course we do. We have a difference over how to do that. In that regard. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to this Republican plan and in support of the Democratic alternative. The Republican budget on the floor of the House today is simply the sequel to last years planmore of the same. It abandons the economic recovery and ends the Medicare guarantee for individuals whose median income is under $21.000 while providing a whopping average tax break of almost $400.000 for people making over $1 million a year. These tax breaks for the very wealthy and the tax breaks for special interests come at the expense of middleincome taxpayers. at the expense of seniors. and at the expense of essential investments to keep America strong. This Republican plan will weaken economic growth and. according to independent analysts. result in over 2 million jobs lost over the next 2 years. It rewards corporations that ship American jobs overseas while slashing investments in education. in scientific research and infrastructure that help America grow our economy right here at home. In short. it is a path to greater prosperity if you are already wealthy. while leaving seniors. working Americans. and future generations behind. Mr. Chairman. we gather here at a very important time for our country. As a result of the extraordinary actions taken over the last 4 years and the tenacity of the American people and small businesses. America avoided a second Great Depression. and the economy is slowly recovering. Still. millions of Americans remain out of work through no fault of their own. We must push forward with the recovery. not fall back. and we certainly should not return to the failed economic policies that got America into this economic mess to begin with. And yet that is exactly what this Republican budget does. It is a recipe for national stagnation and decline. It retreats from our national goal of outeducating. outbuilding and outcompeting the rest of the world. And it will weaken the economic recovery by slashing investments to important economic growth and expanding those tax breaks that reward corporations that ship American jobs overseas. Even when we have 17 percent unemployment in the construction industry. it cuts critical investments in our transportation systems. including a 46 percent cut in transportation starting next year. As I mentioned earlier. nonpartisan analysts looked at this and concluded it would lose 2 million jobs over 2 years. So. rather than putting the economy into reverse. we need to move forward. We need to adopt the remainder of the Presidents jobs plan. a plan thats been sitting here in the House since September. Its also clear that putting America back to work is the fastest and most effective way to reduce deficits in the short term. In fact. the Congressional Budget Office estimates that our weak economy and underemployment is the single major contributing factor to the deficit this year. accounting for over onethird of the projected 2012 deficit. So we need to come up with a credible plan. The issue. as I said. is not whether but how. Every bipartisan group that has looked at ways to reduce the deficit in a credible way has recommended a balanced approach. meaning a combination of spending cuts and cuts to tax breaks for the wealthy. and the elimination of special interest corporate tax loopholes. The Democratic alternative provides that balanced approach. while the Republican plan. unfortunately. fails that test. Instead. their plan would again rig the rules in favor of the very wealthy and special interests. That may not be a surprise. since virtually every House Republican has signed a pledgea pledgeto Grover Norquist saying they will not close a single special interest tax loophole. not eliminate a single oil subsidy for the purpose of deficit reduction. not one penny. I agree with the gentleman from Wisconsin that we face a real deficit and debt problem. Apparently. the problem is not big enough to ask folks at the very high end of the income scale to contribute one penny toward deficit reduction. In addition to locking in those parts of the Bush tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the very wealthy. they now have a new round of tax cuts that will provide. on average. a $400.000 tax cut for people making over $1 million a year. Thats according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. So. heres the key: because our Republican colleagues refuse to ask millionaires to contribute 1 cent to deficit reduction. they hit everyone and everything else. Lets take a look at Medicare recipients. They immediately increase costs to seniors for Medicare preventive services and terminate a new service. the wellness programs. that were part of the Affordable Care Act. They immediately reduce support to seniors in the prescription drug plan by reopening the doughnut hole. That decision will cost seniors with high drug costs an average of $10.000 over the next 10 years. Once again. this Republican budget does not reform Medicare. it deforms it. It proposes to end the Medicare guarantee. shifting rising costs onto seniors and disabled individuals. It gives you the equivalent of a voucher. but if your voucher amount is not sufficient to pay for the rising cost of health care. too bad. Too bad. It simply rations your health care and choice of doctor by income and leaves seniors to the whims of the insurance industry. Despite claims that market competition is going to bring down those rising costs. the plan creates that artificial cap on the voucher support. Our Republican colleagues say theyre using the part D prescription drug plan as a model. but that has no artificial cap. They say its the same kind of plan offered to Members of Congress under the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan. but that has no cap on support from their plans. So. unlike Members of Congress. seniors in Medicare will get vouchers with declining purchasing power relative to rising health care costs. In fact. if you look at this chart. Mr. Chairman. you will see what the current Medicare plan would provide in terms of the amount of support provided by the plan to the individual on health care. Thats the blue line. This is the green line. Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan. the plan that Members of Congress are on. As you can see. the amount of the premium support keeps pace with rising health care costs. This red line is the Republican voucher plan that caps the amount an individual can receive and goes steadily downward. giving seniors on Medicare a worse deal than Members of Congress would give to themselves. Now. Mr. Chairman. this budget also rips apart the safety net for seniors in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. as well as lowincome kids and individuals with disabilities who rely on Medicaid. Remember. twothirds of Medicaid funding goes to seniors in nursing homes and disabled individuals. yet that is one of the biggest areas of the Republican budget cuts. It takes a hatchet to Medicaid. slashing over $800 billion and cutting Medicaid by onethird by the year 2022. This is done under the Orwellian title in their plan of "repairing" the social safety net. Thats like throwing an anchor to a drowning person. Mr. Chairman. to govern is to choose. and thats what this debate is all about. The choices in this Republican budget are simply wrong for America. It is not bold to provide tax breaks to millionaires while ending the Medicare guarantee for seniors and sticking them with the bill for rising health care costs. Its not courageous to protect tax giveaways to Big Oil companies and other special interests while slashing investments in our kids education. scientific research. and critical infrastructure. It is not visionary to reward corporations that ship American jobs overseas while terminating affordable health care for tens of millions of Americans. It is certainly not brave to cut support for seniors in nursing homes. individuals with disabilities. and poor kids. And it is not fair to raise taxes on middleincome Americans financed by another round of tax breaks for the very wealthy. Yet those are the choices made in this Republican budget. Where is the shared responsibility? Mr. Chairman. we can and we must do better. Lets reject this budget and adopt the Democratic alternative which provides a balanced approach to accomplishing the goal of reducing our deficits while at the same time strengthening our economy and doing it in a way that calls for shared responsibility. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.