Waiving Points of Order Against Conference Report on S. 1932, Deficit Reducation Act of 2005

WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 1932, DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - December 18, 2005)

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Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, a lot of euphemisms on the other side, such as the cuts in the rates of growth, suggesting that that is just a neutral act when it takes place. They have cut about $40 billion out of this budget in this package that we are going to vote on in a little while. Twelve billion of that comes from student loan accounts, and about $7 billion, 70 percent, almost $8 billion of that, 70 percent of those cuts come off the backs of students and their parents.

They increase the cost of college education over the next few years by almost $8 billion. That means that students that are struggling to finish their college education, to acquire a college education so they can participate in this economic system, will have thousands of dollars added on to the cost of the borrowing that they must engage in. They must engage in that because the cost of education is outstripping the ability of middle income families to supply that money for that education for those children. So the Republicans' idea is to make college more expensive. At a time when we worry whether we will have enough students graduating from college to meet the needs of the economy, their idea is make it more expensive.

Yes, the Democrats do have a better idea, and that is to try to open up the access to college and lessen the cost of college.

Then, if that is not enough, if that is not enough, if you get to the other part of the program like Medicaid, they say they are going to reduce the cost of increase. Well, that cost of increase is done by increasing the premiums and the copayments to the poorest people in this country. Those premiums and copayments is about $19 billion over 5 years, $100 billion over 10 years. And if it is not enough that they increase your copayments and their premiums, then they take away the benefits. They are going to take away eyeglasses from elderly people, hearing aids from elderly people, and if Tiny Tim was here today they plan to take away his crutches. That is the Republicans at Christmastime: Take away the crutches of old people, the hearing aids of old people and eyeglasses, because those are the benefits that are listed and the benefits that they plan to cut to the poorest people who need health care.

They are going to add on billions of dollars to the States because of the changes in the work requirements, unfunded mandates. So you can talk about slowing the growth, but the growth and the costs to parents of students going to college, the growth in the costs of people who need health care who are poor, the growth in the cost of people who need those services under health care, all of those increases. Now, maybe that does not sound like a tax increase to you, but if you are poor and you are trying to pay for your health care and it costs you more, that kind of looks like a tax increase. If you are going to add on thousands of dollars to student loans, that is a tax increase.

What we have here is one cruel, one inhumane, one insensitive budget by the Republican Party.

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