[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 44 (Thursday, March 29, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 28, 2001

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the concurrent resolution 
     (H. Con. Res. 83) establishing the congressional budget for 
     the United States Government for fiscal year 2002, revising 
     the congressional budget for the United States Government for 
     fiscal year 2001, and setting forth appropriate budgetary 
     levels for each of fiscal years 2003 through 2011:

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 83, 
the budget resolution for fiscal year 2002. I urge my colleagues to 
join in its adoption.
  Our Nation now stands at a historic crossroads. After two decades of 
growing deficits and rising debt, the Congressional Budget Office has 
now projected rapidly growing surpluses for at least the next decade. 
The fiscal discipline enforced by the Republican Congresses since 1995 
has now borne fruit.
  The primary challenge now facing Congress is preventing a return to 
the days of deficit spending and rising debt. The FY 02 budget 
resolution accomplishes this and sets high but reachable goals in the 
areas of debt repayment and tax reduction.
  In terms of debt reduction, this resolution provides for the 
unprecedented amount of $2.3 trillion over the next ten years, 
representing the maximum amount that can be retired without incurring 
penalties. The retirement of this substantial amount of debt will 
result in lower interest payment each year over the coming decade. The 
interest savings can then be redirected towards pressing needs or 
unforeseen emergencies. Moreover, the retirement of public debt will 
also lead to lower interest rates as it becomes ``cheaper'' for the 
Government to borrow money.
  The resolution also provides for some much needed tax relief for 
American families. It allows taxpayers to keep roughly one-fourth of 
projected budget surpluses over the next ten years (28.9 percent of 
$5.61 trillion) through lower tax bills for all taxpayers.
  Overall, taxpayers will keep at least $1.62 trillion of their 
earnings over the next ten years. This will be achieved primarily 
through four separate pieces of legislation, each accomplishing the 
following: retroactive marginal rate reductions, doubling the child tax 
credit, providing relief from the marriage penalty, and eliminating the 
death tax.
  In terms of funding requirements, the resolution provides for many 
Government programs that have critical underfunded needs. Education, 
Medicare, Social Security, defense, and veterans. For example, it 
provides a 4 percent (over $5.7 billion) increase in defense spending 
to increase military pay, improve troop housing and extend additional 
health benefits to military retirees.
  The budget provides a historic 12 percent increase in veterans 
spending for FY 2002 to address the underfunded needs, especially in 
the field of veterans health care, of those who served our Nation. This 
is a refreshing change from the veterans budgets of years past, which 
were often flatlined or contained only minimal increases.
  The budget contains new spending authority of $153 billion for 
Medicare modernization, including the addition of a prescription drug 
benefit, and provides a reserve fund if additional Medicare 
modernization funds are needed. The Medicare program is in need of a 
major overhaul, both to reign in overall costs, and bring its benefits 
package more in line with 21st century health care. This budget 
resolution starts that process.
  I am encouraged to see that this budget includes significant 
increases for the Department of Education, specifically, an increase 
for program spending of 11.5 percent for FY 2002. The budget calls for 
a number of increases to programs including an increase of $1 billion 
for Pell grants, a ``reading first'' initiative to strengthen early 
reading education, annual math and reading testing for grades 3 through 
8 and a tax deduction to help teachers defray the costs associated with 
out of pocket classroom expenses. Although I support the majority of 
the budget's proposals, I am concerned with the school choice option, 
that will funnel Federal funds from public schools to private and 
religious schools and the streamlining and consolidation of a number of 
Federal education programs that may be lost in the shuffle.
  Finally, Mr. Chairman, the budget is consistent with the provisions 
of H.R. 2, the Social Security and Medicare Lock-Box Act of 2001, which 
passed the House earlier this year. This act creates a point of order 
against legislation that reduces the total unified surplus below the 
combined total of the Social Security Trust Fund surplus and the 
Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund surplus. Consequently, the 
measure creates a procedural ``lock-box'' protecting the Social 
Security and Medicare surpluses from being used for any purpose other 
than debt reduction until the enactment of Social Security and Medicare 
reform legislation.
  This is a responsible budget resolution. It preserves the integrity 
of the Social Security and Medicare systems, makes necessary 
investments in Medicare, education, national security and veterans 
health care, provides for appropriate tax relief, pays down an 
unprecedented level of public debt, and sets aside a prudent reserve 
fund for unforeseen emergencies. For these reasons, I intend to support 
it, and urge my colleagues to do the same.