Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2013

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Chairman, let me rise and commend the efforts of Chris Van Hollen and the Budget Committee and rise in full support of their balanced and fair document that emphasizes shared sacrifice. Let me say to my Republican colleagues that this appears to us much like that great philosopher Lawrence Berra said, ``deja vu all over again.''

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in another difficult period of our history, said that we need to prevail upon this country to come together and find the warm courage of national unity that comes from shared sacrifice that would again demonstrate to the American people, especially the most frail amongst us and those in the middle class who are impacted the most, that we have national unity because we have guaranteed that no longer will they be in a position where they have to suffer while others would use government in a way to prosper and grow at the expense of the middle class.

There isn't a Member of this Chamber who doesn't have friends or family who aren't affected by the altering of Medicare, Social Security, or Medicaid. These are the tough decisions that are made every single day across the dinner table.

This fragile recovery impacts the most fragile amongst us and also is tearing asunder the very middle class that we seek to provide with the guarantee--the guarantee of a social safety net that provides them with Social Security, Medicare and, yes, health care, as well. That is why the Democrats have offered an alternative plan that underscores our convictions and our belief in Social Security, Medicare, and affordable health care.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source