[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 90 (Friday, June 25, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1289]]
     OPPOSING THE FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE REPUBLICAN BUDGET PROCESS 
                              LEGISLATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 25, 2004

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4663, the 
so-called Spending Control Act of 2004. This bill is another shameless 
attempt by the Republican majority to shove their radical, right wing 
agenda down the throats of the American people. What are they going 
after this time? Medicare and Social Security. And what are they trying 
to protect? Tax cuts.
  What a surprise. What a surprise that the Republicans would put tax 
cuts over Medicare and Social Security. I guess it shouldn't surprise 
us anymore.
  This bill purports to be a budget bill. It is supposed to set up 
rules to restrain spending and reduce the national budget deficit. 
That's a worthy goal. Too bad the bill doesn't advance us toward that 
goal. One provision which purports to advance this goal is the pay-as-
you go (PAYGO) rule. Under such a plan, any new spending on one program 
must be paid for by a reduction in spending from another. Such a rule 
is problematic. Under this plan, if I want to add an important benefit 
to the Medicare program, I must cut spending elsewhere in the Medicare, 
or in some other vital program like Medicaid or the State Children's 
Health Insurance Program. In this time of huge budget deficits, I know 
we must control our spending habits. But robbing Peter to pay Paul 
makes no sense when we are talking about the health and well being of 
our fellow citizens.
  That said, I would have no problem supporting PAYGO rules for 
mandatory spending if the Republicans made them apply to tax cuts as 
well. But guess what? Under this proposal, tax cuts would be exempt 
from the PAYGO rules! In other words, we have to eliminate programs to 
add something to Medicare, but the Republicans can cut taxes until the 
cows come home! The Republicans could therefore pass another huge tax 
cut for millionaires without replacing the lost revenue with spending 
cuts. This then leads to huge deficits because of the exponentially 
widening gap between spending and revenue. Does this make any sense at 
all? Of course not!
  What makes this bill worse is the fact that increasing mandatory 
spending for programs like Medicare cannot be paid for by closing tax 
loopholes and increasing revenue by charging taxpayers what they really 
owe. For example, if I proposed legislation to fill in the doughnut 
hole in the Republican prescription drug benefit, I could not pay for 
that expanded benefit by closing corporate tax loopholes that 
effectively allow most corporations to go untaxed. In fact, a report by 
the General Accounting Office found that, on average, 61 percent of all 
U.S. corporations reported no tax liability between 1996 and 2000. But 
under this budget legislation we couldn't make a single one of those 
corporations pay the taxes they owe so that I could provide Medicare 
beneficiaries the prescription drug benefit they deserve.
  Not so many years ago we enjoyed a projected $5.6 trillion surplus 
that could have put a huge dent in our national debt, or paid for 
health insurance for the 44 million uninsured in this country. Since 
the original PAYGO rules expired and the Republicans started cutting 
taxes for their wealthy friends, that surplus has turned into a $2.9 
trillion deficit, which will push our total debt over $9 trillion. Who 
do you think is going to pay for that debt if we fail to reinstate 
PAYGO rules that work? You and I will not foot the bill for this 
irresponsible policy. Our children, grandchildren and great 
grandchildren will.
  This bill is another colossal mistake which the Republicans want to 
inflict on our country. I urge my colleagues to support the Spratt 
substitute, which applies PAYGO to both spending and tax cuts, and to 
vote against this one-sided Republican bill.

                          ____________________