CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, let me thank Chairman WATT, and, of course, let me thank Congressman Scott for his excellent work, and all of the Members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Mr. Chairman, I have not heard the theme of priorities being addressed on the floor of the House today. That is what the CBC budget represents. I would like to be standing here for working Americans, middle-class Americans.
With the CBC budget, we save $10.5 billion more in interest. That money goes into the pockets of working Americans. We cut the trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars of deficit, and we are able then to cut, if you will, the kinds of insidious, insidious, eliminate cuts on the budget that hurt the people of America.
I like the CBC budget because, in fact, it provides the opportunity to eliminate the $6 billion cuts that you make on veterans health care, or the $6 billion cuts that you make over 5 years on homeland security.
Mr. Chairman, it restores the moneys to Head Start. It restores the money to Pell Grants. It restores the money to provide better health care for Americans. And, yes, it provides $10.5 billion of interest back in the pockets of Americans.
Vote for the CBC budget. It balances the budget, but most importantly it stands for working Americans.
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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I think one of the problems that we have is not explaining to the American people the amount of pain that this Republican budget casts on Americans. So let me just tell you the truth this evening.
When the Democrats were in, when we passed the 1997 budget resolution, we developed a $5.6 trillion surplus. I think that is easy enough to understand. But right now, today, we have seen an arrow sink us down into an $8.8 trillion deficit and sliding on the slippery slope of this huge deficit that breaks the backs of working Americans. In fact, right now, today, when they vote, they will create a $3.2 trillion, if you will, deficit that will break the backs of working Americans. What that does is, of course, is to reenforce the fact that the tax cut that you are giving gives only to the richest of America, the 1 percent, but, in fact, even though Americans understand about mutual sacrifice of which they would rather have investment in education and health care and homeland security, your tax cut is going to cost $3 trillion, which is going to add to the trillions of dollars of deficit that we already have.
When we talk about priorities, what that means is that we are cutting $6 billion from homeland security, the very debate that we are having today, $6 billion we are cutting over a 5-year period in homeland security. What does that mean? It means we have no funding for border security. It means we have no funding to ensure that the homeland is safe with intelligence resources and collaboration. It also means that our military has no armored jackets. It means that our veterans hospitals are cut for $6 billion. But, most importantly, it cuts the children of America because it is the largest cut in education in 23 years. That is what this trillion-dollar deficit budget makes. That is what the Republican budget does. It cuts priorities, and that is what the Democrats are saying.
Our priorities are different. We want to invest in America. We do not want to build the deficit. We do not want to build $3 trillion in tax cuts that do not go to the average working American. We want that single mother, we want that family of 4, we want that family of 10, we want that young person looking for an opportunity to have the investment of capital to ensure that America is great.
Vote for the Democratic substitute. That is what makes America great, and that is what we would like to do for America.
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