[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 154 (Friday, November 18, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2412-E2413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 17, 2005

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Budget 
Reconciliation Bill, H.R. 4241, reported on a partisan basis by the 
House Committee on the Budget.
  My colleagues have already highlighted many of the harsh cuts that 
would be made in this bill. These include, but are not limited to, cuts 
in Medicaid spending of nearly $12 billion, cuts in the student loan 
program of more than $14 billion, $840 million in cuts in the food 
stamp programs, $4.9 billion in cuts to the State child support 
enforcement programs, $577 million in cuts to the foster care program 
and $470 million in cuts to the Federal housing rehab program.
  Let's be very clear on this point. These cuts will do nothing to 
reduce our growing deficit and, despite what many Republicans have 
tried to claim, they will not offset the costs we will rightly incur to 
recover from the catastrophic devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and 
Rita.
  In fact, while cutting almost $50 billion in much needed social 
programs for the most needy, the bill ``reconciles'' another $70 
billion

[[Page E2413]]

in tax cuts for the absolute least needy--adding another $16-20 billion 
to the Federal deficit. So I ask, what sense does this heartless bill 
make?
  While I am glad the manager's amendment tries to soften the blow to 
the vulnerable by making sure that children who currently receive 
school lunches will not be cut off, as well as by making other small 
vote garnering changes to the Medicaid and food stamp programs, these 
are small pluses that do very little to outweigh the many minuses of 
this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, to achieve this deficit increase, the budget 
reconciliation bill before us today would cut precisely those programs 
that help the poor, the sick, the weak, and the young so that the 
wealthiest among us can receive additional tax cuts.
  Let me review for a moment what the tax cuts already enacted have 
done to our Nation.
  According to the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy 
Center, as a result of the tax cuts implemented by the administration 
and by the Republican leadership in Congress to date, households with 
incomes exceeding $1 million can expect to receive tax cuts this year 
that will average $103,000.
  According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, after 
adjusting for inflation, the after-tax income of the 1 percent of tax 
filers with the highest incomes rose by nearly $49,000 in 2003 while 
the lowest 75 percent of tax filers saw their incomes decrease in 2002.
  Not surprisingly, as income disparity has grown, the poverty rate in 
this Nation has increased from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 12.7 percent in 
2004, and there are now more than 37 million Americans living in 
poverty in this Nation, including 13 million children.
  Further, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, last year 
there were more than 38 million individuals living in households that 
at some point during the year were food ``insecure,'' meaning that they 
were unable to afford to buy enough food to feed themselves.
  On September 16, President Bush traveled to New Orleans to announce a 
bold and ambitious plan to rebuild the gulf coast region following the 
hurricanes. During his speech, the President acknowledged that poverty 
and indifference had left so many of our fellow Americans vulnerable to 
the hurricanes in the gulf region.
  Unfortunately, the budget reconciliation bill before us illustrates 
in the starkest possible terms that as the storm and its revelations 
about our society begin to fade from the front pages to the back pages, 
the Republican leadership of this House has chosen to repudiate the 
President's commitment to address poverty.
  Rather than embrace the President's call for action, the Republican 
leaders of this House have put forward a bill that will continue 
policies of neglect and indifference in service to what they see as the 
greater good: continued tax cuts for the wealthiest in this Nation.
  The budget reconciliation act before us presents a stark choice for 
all Members of the House of Representatives--between supporting tax 
cuts for the wealthiest among us or opposing reductions in our already 
thin social safety net.
  I urge my colleagues to make the moral choice today. Budgets reflect 
the moral compass of a nation. This budget reconciliation package is 
devoid of humanity and compassion and would take our Nation far off 
course of helping its neediest citizens. I urge my colleagues to stand 
with the children, the elderly, and the vulnerable of our Nation by 
voting against this reconciliation act.
  If its passage occurs, I implore the conferees to be compassionate 
and fair and to restore and maintain the social safety net for our 
neediest citizens.

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