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Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for his continued leadership on the issue of the fiscal outlook for our country, on the issue of the moral obligation that we have to our children. And next, to address the growing mountain of debt that unfortunately they're facing.
Mr. Chairman, I would say that this debate that we're having is a debate of contrasts. When you look at the two budgets, in this Chamber and you look at the budget that is underway across the Capitol, ours is a budget that balances.
Just as people at home around their kitchen table at the end of the month have to do with their checkbook every month, we believe the same is true. We balance this budget within 10 years.
The other side calls for more taxes. The other budget that is being discussed in the other body, in fact, creates $1 trillion of new taxes.
And the question for the American people really is which budget do you think grows the economy, which budget do you think helps folks gain some certainty, helps folks get back to work, helps folks who are relying on some of the programs that this body knows, because its budget office is telling us are going to go away unless we act? It is clear, the choice is clear, and the contrast couldn't be clearer.
I would like to respond, Mr. Chairman, to some of the suggestions by Members on the other side of the aisle that somehow our budget doesn't address the needs of those who are most in need. In fact, the opposite is the truth. Our budget protects the social safety net programs. The other budget on the other side of the aisle does nothing to respond to the alarms that have been issued by our budget counters and CBO and others year in and year out. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid--all are on life support if we don't act.
Our budget, and the chairman of our Budget Committee, has been a champion to say, let's be responsible, let's help those who are in need, let's preserve the social safety net, the programs that make America who she is. It is our budget that helps those in need, Mr. Chairman, not the other side of the aisle.
Let's look at the question of tax reform. The people of this country have spoken out on this issue. They want a fairer and simpler Code. What Chairman Ryan has done in this budget is provided a prescription for doing just that: a broadening of the base, a lowering of the rates, and, yes, Mr. Chairman, an insurance in our budget that we are going to get rid of the special interest loopholes that have put Washington in the business of choosing favorites.
I think all of our constituents know that is not what they elect us to do. They want to see an even playing field for all. They want everyone--everyone--in this country to have a fair shot.
If you compare tax reform in the position that we take in our budget to that which the other side is proposing in this body and in the one across the Capitol, I think it is very clear: higher taxes without the reforms necessary versus what we are trying to do, which is even the playing field, giving everybody a fair shot to go and earn success.
The choice is very clear, Mr. Chairman, that our budget provides some certainty for the future for the moms and dads out there who are desperate to know that we are doing our job in Washington on their behalf; that we are going to address this fiscal situation so that they can get on about their lives; so that they can see their kids have a better education; so that they can access the health care that they have come to know, and for those who don't have the health care, can actually have a system that will lower costs and provide real prospects for quality health care, not the kind of health care designed by this Affordable Care Act that we are going to see come into effect.
So, again, I want to thank Chairman Ryan of the Budget Committee, the gentleman from Wisconsin, for his dogged attention to this very, very alarming question of how we are going to grow our economy and doing it in a way that is thoughtful, that is well put, and has the specifics to go and do the job.
Mr. Chairman, that is something that we have not seen from the other side. We have certainly not seen that from the White House. They haven't even presented the budget yet. And that is unacceptable.
I urge my colleagues to support the budget coming out of our Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Ryan.
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