[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 28, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            BRING OUR BUDGET IN BALANCE WITH OUR PRIORITIES

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, in today's number reporting a deficit $500 
billion, a historic number, it goes to prove that we cannot fight three 
wars with three tax cuts, having now produced a record deficit in the 
economy.
  And what we need now is a balanced budget that is in balance with our 
priorities. Not all government spending is good, and not all tax cuts 
lead to the same economic benefit. We need a strategy and an agenda 
that brings our budget into balance with our priorities, where we can 
make sure that Americans can afford the education and the health care 
for their children that they need as well as make sure that we have the 
security and the investments in our defense that we need. And as we lay 
out our agenda and understand where we are as a country and the 
priorities, I think that today's deficit proves that while the economy 
is supposedly growing, the deficit should be going down, not going up. 
And the reason it is going up is because we neither have a strategy nor 
the priorities that are correct for this country and for the future of 
our country. So we must once again dedicate ourselves to the principle 
of bringing the budget into balance, in balance with our priorities.

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