Conference Report On S. Con. Res. 11, Concurrent Resolution On The Budget, Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this conference report.

Written by House and Senate Republicans alone, it reaffirms their commitment to a severe and unworkable policy agenda that would harm the economy and that stands little chance of being implemented.

This budget conference report draws heavily on the House Republicans' budget framework by eliminating the Medicare guarantee, turning Medicaid into a capped block grant, limiting Pell grants for college students, and cutting nutrition assistance while hiding $1 trillion in additional cuts behind a magic asterisk to be filled in at some time in the future.

These proposals, if implemented, would be disastrous for our country, and I suspect even most Republicans wouldn't vote to make them law, and I predict they will not vote to make them law. Still, many of its proposals must be taken very seriously.

The Republican budget conference report includes reconciliation instructions to fast-track yet another vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, jeopardizing affordable coverage for millions of Americans with no alternative in sight.

It continues the Republican policy of sequester for nondefense priorities this year--a disinvestment suggestion, an undermining of America's economy and its quality of life--and further limits our ability to invest in priorities like education, research, and infrastructure by $496 billion below sequester levels over the ensuing decade. This is the same sequester policy that the Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee called ``unrealistic and ill-conceived.'' Let me repeat that. He is the Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Hal Rogers of Kentucky, and he said that the policies being pursued in this budget are ``unrealistic and ill-conceived.'' He is right.

Shamelessly, they propose to do all of this while exempting defense spending from the sequester caps. Defense spending needs to be raised. It ought to be raised honestly and not pretend that some slush fund will pay for, not contingencies, which it is intended to do, but for regular defense investments, which we need to do.

This budget conference report is, essentially, a work of fiction, promulgated as a message to the Republican base. I urge my colleagues to defeat it.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. HOYER. Instead, let us work together in a bipartisan way to replace the unrealistic and ill-conceived--not my words but Hal Rogers' words--and, I would add, completely unworkable sequester caps with an alternative that enables Congress to invest in America's future growth and prosperity.

That is what our constituents want. That is what we owe them--honesty and responsibility. I hope this resolution is defeated.

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