[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 19, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        FISCAL YEAR 2003 BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Madam Speaker, this week we in the U.S. Congress will 
debate the budget resolution for fiscal year 2003. Last year, after 
almost a decade of work, we finally had a budget surplus. This year, we 
will again plunge into deficit spending and raid the Social Security 
and Medicare trust funds.
  No Member of Congress is opposed to paying the necessary cost of 
defending our country, securing our homeland, and supporting our 
military personnel. However, this defense did not have to come at the 
expense of other important domestic programs. We are in this fix 
because the trillion dollar tax cut over 10 years, enacted last year, 
left us no room to deal with the emergency we are now facing.
  I want the people of the 15th District of Texas to know what the 2003 
budget will mean to them. It means that people in my district will not 
get vital assistance to combat our decade-long water drought because 
the President has eliminated the Drought Assistance Program from the 
2003 budget.
  It means the ``One Stop Capital Shop'' that helps small minority 
businesses stay in business in the poorest county in the Nation will 
have to close.
  It means there will be even less funding to combat the epidemic of 
tuberculosis, hepatitis, and HIV/AIDS that is rampant on the southern 
border and, if not checked, will spread throughout the country.
  Finally, it means that the bipartisan education bill, of which we 
were all so proud because President Bush signed it in January 2002, 
will not be fully funded, and poor and minority children will again be 
shortchanged. That is not right.

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