Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. RICE of South Carolina. Mr. Chairman, the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Better Off Budget is really a bigger government budget. The Progressive Caucus substitute increases total spending relative to the Republican budget by $8.4 trillion over the next 10 years. American families, and particularly our children and our grandchildren, cannot afford this next year, and absolutely not for the next 10 years. This bigger government budget creates new taxes, more regulation, duplicative Federal programs, and will stifle progress across the board.

People, this is not complicated. We need a budget that will grow our economy. Higher taxes, higher deficits, and bigger regulation will never grow the economy. If we put folks back to work, we solve a lot of problems. We solve unemployment problems, deficit problems, poverty problems, income inequality problems, crime problems, drug problems, and problems across the board.

The number one issue in my district, and I believe the number one issue in this Nation, is jobs. Five years after the Great Recession, the economy continues to struggle, and far too many Americans remain out of work. Mr. Obama's Big Government economy has failed.

We can solve this problem. It is not rocket science. We can build our economy and put hardworking Americans back to work if only we will take a few steps to make America more competitive. Just like counties across the country compete for jobs, just like States lower tax rates and streamline regulations to attract industry and jobs--and you can look at States and see what they are doing and how they are successful--we must adopt an attitude here in Washington that we will compete in the world if we expect to stop sending our jobs overseas and bring American jobs back home.

If we retain the world's highest corporate tax rate, how can we expect to compete in the world? If Washington continues to spend more than we take in, threatening our entire economy, how can we expect to compete in the world? If we continue to build upon our already oppressive regulatory burden, how can we expect to compete in the world?

This is where I believe my friends across the aisle miss the mark. They seem to believe and preach that somehow making this country competitive benefits only the wealthy. But the truth is that people with high assets and high skills do well in a global environment. They can compete from anywhere.

The CHAIR. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. RICE of South Carolina. But the longer we wait to enter the global competition for jobs, the more we damage the hardworking folks in the middle class. We will not grow our economy or put people back to work by expanding entitlements. We will never solve the problems of poverty and inequality through bigger government.

If America will enter the global competition for jobs, our economy will accelerate and the sky is the limit. This is not a Republican issue. This is not a Democrat issue. This is an American issue. We are so blessed that if we simply decide to compete, no one can stop us.

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