[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 18, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H1931-H1932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE REPUBLICANS' BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Solis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to discuss President Bush and 
the House Republicans' proposed budget. As my colleagues may recall, 
back in the year 2001, President Bush entered his office enjoying a 
fiscal surplus that no previous President had ever experienced, over 
$127 billion in that fiscal year alone, a 10-year surplus projected at 
$5.6 trillion. Our President also took office with an ambitious plan to 
provide tax cuts, the number of $1.7 trillion.
  Democrats warned that a tax cut of this magnitude and time would 
prove irresponsible. We warned that the tax cuts would reduce the size 
of the future economy, raise interest rates and prove fiscally 
unsustainable, but our President chose not to listen. Instead he 
squandered $1.7 trillion of our Nation's surplus to advance his tax 
agenda, aiding a very small proportion of Americans, particularly the 
very wealthy.
  By the summer of 2001, before the tragedies of September 11, our 
economy had begun to slow down, and our 10-year surplus was now down 
from $5.6 trillion to only $575 billion. I bring this point up because 
we cannot afford to ignore the connection between the current state of 
our economy and the President's first round of tax cuts.
  Now that our economy is clearly faltering, Republicans would like to 
offer still more fiscally irresponsible tax cuts. How do Republicans 
expect to pay for the second round of $1.7 trillion in tax cuts? By 
cutting the programs that are essential to our collective well-being 
and the well-being of our families.
  The President's budget cuts domestic programs important to our 
livelihood while enacting tax cuts that will add to our public debt. 
More specifically, the Bush budget sacrifices the health of

[[Page H1932]]

our Nation. In fact, 41 million Americans right now have no health 
insurance. Many of them are Hispanics.
  The Bush budget cuts funding for Medicaid coverage for children, low-
income seniors and the disabled. The budget also eliminates funding for 
programs that increase the number of minority health care providers, 
desperately needed in communities like mine, where we need 
linguistically and culturally appropriate health care providers.
  It is also important to note that the President's budget will only 
create 190,000 jobs this year, less than the number of jobs that we 
lost this February. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the 
U.S. economy lost 308,000 jobs this past month. Latinos are also 
particularly heavily impacted. In my own district, unemployment rates 
are far beyond the 9 percent, way above what the national level is at 
5.6.
  These unemployment rates are outrageous, and our President's solution 
to create only 190,000 jobs is not even nearly enough where we need to 
be. The President should focus his budget on funding important Federal 
programs that create opportunity or self-sufficient jobs for the 8.5 
million unemployed Americans, and instead, the President's budget cuts 
job training and employment programs for dislocated workers. It fails 
to extend unemployment benefits for the 1 million Americans who cannot 
access Federal assistance, but are still jobless.
  As bad as the President's budget is, I am even more disappointed by 
the budget that the Republicans want to offer, and the Republican 
budget resolution requires that almost every authorizing committee cut 
spending within its jurisdiction, and it fails to explain which 
programs those will be that will be on the chopping block. I think it 
is questionable that we somehow implement a 2.9 percent across-the-
board cut in these programs without giving us specifics. In reality, 
what it means is there will be more cuts for veterans, our children and 
the elderly.
  For example, the Republican budget fails to provide any specific 
funding for a Medicare prescription drug benefit. It provides only $28 
billion in new funding over 10 years for all the programs under the 
jurisdiction of two committees that are responsible for this, for 
Medicare, the Committee on Ways and Means and Committee on Energy and 
Commerce. From my own home district it would actually translate into 
$233.2 million of cuts in Medicare over the next 10 years, and the 
State of California would lose more than $18 billion.
  Let us take a closer look at the Republican's budget and how it will 
impact education. Republicans, running on the assumption that every 
program harbors substantial waste and fraud, are requesting the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce to cut out $10 million from 
their budget. So what is it going to be, school lunch programs for kids 
or student loans?
  We need to be responsible in our budget deliberations.

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