[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H1676-H1677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE BLUE DOG BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, just a few minutes ago the House passed a 
budget that puts this body on record as effectively turning our back on 
future generations, saddling our children and grandchildren with 
mounting deficits and debt, with no end in sight.
  The majority's management of this Nation's finances has resulted in 
more than $2.2 trillion in additional debt since 2001. With this 
budget, the majority party has made a bad problem worse.
  Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle who control the House, 
the Senate, and the Presidency are in total command of our economy. The 
majority continues to talk about fiscal responsibility, about waste, 
about fraud, and about the abuse of the American people's money. Yet 
they have proposed a budget that is fundamentally dishonest, a budget 
that omits the cost of the war in Iraq and masks the costs that we will 
incur down the road as the deficit continues to explode.
  Our men and women in uniform sacrifice each day. They leave behind 
their jobs and their families, often on very short notice, and at great 
personal and financial cost. Unfortunately, too many of them have made 
the ultimate sacrifice for this Nation. Yet this Congress continues to 
demonstrate a complete lack of fortitude to ask the American people to 
also make a sacrifice during this time of

[[Page H1677]]

war; and it has the indignity to ask our children to bear the burden 
alone.
  For years, members of the Blue Dog Coalition have warned that we were 
spending money we did not have; that the administration had no economic 
plan; and that tax cuts were not a substitute for an economic program 
for our country's future; but the majority in Congress continue to 
reject our budget reform proposals, efforts to budget in the same way 
that your family and mine do, by paying as you go.
  This year the Blue Dog Coalition developed a clear 12-step plan to 
put our fiscal house back in order by restoring discipline and 
accountability to the budget process. A few days ago, a proposal to 
include 11 of these 12 steps in the budget resolution was wholly 
rejected by the majority in the House Committee on Rules.
  By rejecting consideration of the Blue Dog reforms, the majority 
turned its back on the call to return to some measure of fiscal 
discipline. Since no debate was permitted, I would like to take this 
opportunity to share some of the key features of this plan with the 
American people.
  The Blue Dog 12-point reform plan embraces the first rule of holes: 
when you find yourself in one, stop digging. Our plan takes the shovel 
away from Congress by imposing tough new rules to restrain 
congressional spending. The plan also stops Congress from buying on 
credit and restores PAYGO, strongly supported by Federal Reserve 
Chairman Alan Greenspan.
  The Blue Dog plan also puts a lid on spending by holding down 
discretionary spending to the levels proposed by the President in this 
year's budget. It closes a giant loophole that allows almost any 
spending to be designated an emergency by requiring Congress to have a 
separate vote on items designated as such.
  Every day, I hear from my constituents who ask me where are their tax 
dollars going. The Blue Dog plan answers this call with a number of 
commonsense reforms to keep the taxpayers better educated about where 
their hard-earned dollars go.

                              {time}  1630

  The plan says that if Congress wants to increase the national debt we 
should do it completely out in the open with a separate vote. The plan 
says that if Congress wants to call for more than $50 million in new 
spending, that bill gets a roll call vote. It says if Congress wants to 
push through earmarks for pet projects we should require clear written 
justification for those projects.
  Madam Speaker, this year's deficit is projected to be at much as $589 
billion, not counting the Social Security surplus, almost 5 percent of 
the Gross Domestic Product. By 2009 interest payments alone on our 
national debt will exceed what we spend on discretionary spending on 
national parks, public schools, fire fighters, law enforcement and our 
veterans.
  We owe it to the American people to stop imperiling the Nation's 
economic future by borrowing money to pay for irresponsible policies.
  Yesterday the Judiciary Committee on which I sit spent an entire day 
working on the massive bankruptcy bill. During the debate revolving 
around issues of debt and finances, my colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle often talked about the importance of personal responsibility.
  If your family or mine budgeted in the same way this House 
demonstrated today, we would all go bankrupt. Our constituents know 
exactly what it is like to balance a checkbook at the end of each month 
and at the end of the year. It is now time for the majority to exercise 
some of the personal responsibility they are so fond of and balance our 
Nation's books.

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