[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 50 (Thursday, March 22, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H2942-H2943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    DEMOCRAT BUDGET AND TAX INCREASE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Schwartz). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I want to talk about two issues tonight. I 
am going to start out by talking about the Democrat budget and the tax 
increases that they are proposing, and I want to talk a little bit 
about the emergency supplemental. The two are tied together in many 
ways in terms of the hypocrisy we are seeing come forth from the 
Democratic leadership.
  The House Budget Committee is in the midst of marking up the fiscal 
year 2008 budget resolution. As it currently stands, the proposed 
budget assumes the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which have 
given us this vibrant economy that we have. It is going to create, 
therefore, a $392.5 billion tax increase, the largest tax increase in 
American history.
  It proposes no changes to slow the exploding growth of Social 
Security, Medicare and Medicaid that would result in deficit reduction.
  Those 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, as I have said, have helped create a 
very vibrant economy. They produced real tax decreases in the tax 
burden on North Carolina's married couples, single parents and 
families. Almost every taxpayer in North Carolina, low income, single, 
married or self-employed would lose valuable tax cuts under the 
assumption in the Democrat budget proposal.
  It is not a real surprise, though. We knew this was going to happen. 
It is business as usual for the Democrats and proves that their 
promises to be fiscally responsible are just empty rhetoric. I have 
said before this is a smoke-and-mirrors Congress, and that is exactly 
what it is.
  It would return us to the Democrats' beloved tax-and-spend model for 
government. They have willfully abandoned their pledge for fiscal 
responsibility. They pledged to do PAYGO budget rules and spending 
restrain to curb the deficit, and they have done none of that.
  Last year, Republicans rejected $14 billion in nonemergency spending 
that the Senate tried to attach to the emergency troop funding bill, 
but the Democrats are doing just the opposite.
  Now I want to talk about the supplemental. The emergency 
supplemental, the Democrats said they would never try to coerce people 
into voting for legislation they didn't want to vote for. Last week 
they said they weren't whipping this bill, they were just trying to 
talk people into voting for it. Well, if this is gentle persuasion, I 
would hate

[[Page H2943]]

to see what whipping a bill is. The Members on the Democrats are being 
threatened and coerced into voting for this. Their votes are being 
bought with millions and millions of dollars of pork barrel spending 
that has been put in the supplemental. It is really a slam against our 
troops.
  The proper role of the Federal Government is the defense of this 
Nation. We may not be completely happy with every way the dollar is 
being spent on defense, but if that is the case, then what we need to 
do is have true accountability. Using the word ``accountability'' 
doesn't make it so. We heard our colleagues here talking about that. If 
we wanted true accountability, we would be holding the kinds of 
hearings that would give us accountability. Instead, we have ``gotcha'' 
kinds of hearing. Every hearing here now is a gotcha kind of hearing.
  Don't take my word for the fact that this is a terrible bill that 
they are bringing up, what they are calling the emergency supplemental. 
The Los Angeles Times called for the bill to be vetoed. It said: ``It 
is absurd for House Speaker  Nancy Pelosi to try to micromanage the 
conflict and the evolution of Iraqi society with arbitrary timetables 
and benchmarks.''
  So in addition to the wasteful spending that is going into the 
emergency supplemental, we are hearing from even the liberal press that 
this bill does not deserve to pass.
  They are using our troops as bargaining chips. The Politico said: 
``Democrat leaders see this emerging strategy as a way to encourage 
their liberal members to vote for the supplemental budget bill.''
  They have willfully abandoned their pledge of fiscal responsibility, 
and we should not be allowing our troops to be used as a pawn in the 
hands of the Democrats to get funded programs they want to fund that 
they take off the budget because it is in the emergency supplemental. 
It is not a part of pay-as-you-go.
  Even the Democrat leaders concede that their own bill is flawed. 
Democrat whip James Clyburn has described his party's proposal as a 
``bitter pill to swallow,'' again in the Politico.
  We should reject this bill. I believe we will reject this bill. We 
need to support our troops. We need to give them the reinforcements 
they deserve. We need to win this war on terror. The Democrats never 
talk about winning; they only talk about losing. That is not the 
American way. The American way is to take the challenges presented to 
us, face them squarely, and win and do the things that are right.

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