[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 44 (Friday, March 14, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E419-E420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E419]]
        CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 13, 2008

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the concurrent resolution 
     (H. Con. Res. 312) revising the congressional budget for the 
     United States Government for fiscal year 2008. establishing 
     the congressional budget for the United States Government for 
     fiscal year 2009, and setting forth appropriate budgetary 
     levels for fiscal years 2010 through 2013:

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, today I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 
312, the House Budget Resolution for fiscal year 2009.
  There are a number of reasons why the President's budget was 
considered ``dead on arrival'' by Members of this House. I can think of 
five off of the top of my head--(1) $200 billion in cut funding over 5 
years from Medicare and Medicaid; (2) $570 million in cut funding from 
the Low Income Home Heating Assistance Program; (3) $800 million cut 
from the Federal-Aid Highways Administration; (4) $85 million from the 
Manufacturing Extension Partnership and 5) $59 million cut from the 
Migration and Refugee Assistance. The icing on the cake--the President 
proposed freezing spending for the Consumer Product Safety Commission 
and the National Institutes of Health.
  If this is not a sign that this President is out of tune with the 
American people, then I would advise this President that he spend more 
time reading the mail that comes to his office and less time on his 
ranch in Crawford.
  With today's budget resolution, the House is holding true to its 
commitment to the American people and the priorities of our families. 
Frankly, there is no excuse to continue to neglect the families that 
need help from their government.
  Recently the Congressional Budget Office projected that under the 
current policies of this administration the budget deficit will reach 
$396 billion in 2008 and $342 billion in 2009. These are the second and 
fourth largest deficits ever. I would remind my colleagues that when 
this administration took office we were fortunate to have a projected 
$5.6 trillion 10-year surplus. For a President who continues to 
advocate for fiscal responsibility, it appears to me that he has not 
followed his own advice.
  Currently, 80 cents of every dollar of new debt since 2001 is owed to 
foreign investors. This is not a trend that we will let continue. 
Unlike the Bush administration, the Democratic Budget will be balanced 
by 2012 and will remain in balance in 2013. Furthermore, we will reduce 
the deficits over the next 5 years while continuing to follow pay-as-
you-go.
  The Democratic Budget also holds true to its commitment to our 
veterans by increasing funding for 2009 by $3.6 billion above the 
current level. At the same time that the administration is demanding 
more and more from our troops, they have also shamefully proposed $18 
billion over 5 years in new fees for veterans and military retirees. 
Our troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan honorably and dutifully 
and they deserve to come home to quality health care and strong 
education benefits. This budget will allow the VA to treat 5.8 million 
patients in 2009, 333,275 of which are Iraq and Afghanistan war 
veterans.
  On January 20, the Commission on the Guard and Reserve issued a 
report announcing that the military is not ready for a catastrophic 
attack on the country. More worrisome is the conclusion that the 
National Guard is ill-trained and ill-equipped to handle the job. The 
Democratic budget addresses this issue by focusing on improving 
military readiness and enhancing the pay and benefits for our troops in 
order to improve their quality of life.
  In the last 7 years, this Administration has failed to support our 
first responder programs, firefighter assistance grants and the 
Community Oriented Policing Services. The Democratic budget proposes to 
reverse this trend by placing a high priority on restoring funding. It 
is imperative that while we are assisting those abroad with their 
security needs, that we are also supporting our own domestic security 
needs.
  I am proud to say that this budget proposal will also follow through 
on our commitment to expand children's health insurance coverage by 
providing a $50 billion increase to the State Children's Health 
Insurance Program (SCHIP) so that we can provide healthcare to millions 
more children who otherwise would go uninsured. As we all witnessed 
last year, the President vetoed legislation expanding SCHIP on two 
occasions. In my home state of Michigan we have seen the number of 
uninsured increase to 10.7 percent of Michigan's population. Rather 
than making healthcare coverage less accessible, Congress must be doing 
everything it can to ensure that every individual who wants healthcare 
coverage has the means to get it.
  The Democratic budget also rejects the proposed $500 billion in cuts 
to Medicare and Medicaid. There is no doubt that this President does 
not place the health of our families on the top of his priority list, 
however, his budget did ensure that his fat cat friends in the 
insurance industry would still receive the overpayments to private 
managed care plans. I am pleased to say that the House has proposed 
$1.9 trillion in mandatory spending programs, including Medicare, 
Medicaid and Social Security.
  As we have seen college costs and tuitions skyrocket, this President 
has proposed freezing funding to the Department of Education. The 
President has again failed to provide funding for No Child Left Behind 
(NCLB), providing only $24.6 billion for 2009, making the cumulative 
shortfall for NCLB $85.6 billion. On top of this, the President has 
proposed cutting Teacher Quality State Grants by $100 million. At a 
time when we are asking our teachers and schools to meet rigorous 
standards of NCLB, how can we cut funding from a program designed to 
assist with professional development?
  The Democratic budget rejects these cuts by providing $7.1 billion 
for education and job training above the President's proposal. If we 
want to turn our economy around we must have workers that are well-
trained and equipped to compete in the global market. However, to do so 
we must address rising college costs. In the last year the average 
tuition and fees to attend a four-year in-state public college 
increased 6.6 percent to $6,185, and for a four-year private college 
families are facing a bill of $23,712. This budget resolution will help 
parents and students pay for college raising the maximum Pell grant and 
continuing Perkins Loans and Supplemental Opportunity Grants.
  The Democratic budget provides funding that is crucial for job 
creation. As we have seen here at home, our economy is heading towards 
a recession. From 2001-2006 alone, Michigan lost 235,000 jobs, many of 
them high-paying manufacturing jobs. With the rising unemployment rate, 
it is clear that we need to invest in our workers and new industries 
that would promote job creation here at home.
  This budget provides critical funding for the America COMPETES Act 
increasing funding for math and science education and research. The 
Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which was drastically cut under 
the President's budget, will receive continued funding which will help 
to retain 37,000 jobs. It also supports the trade adjustment assistance 
program, which would provide 130,000 workers with both income support 
and access to training.
  In the past year we have witnessed the danger of our neglected 
infrastructure in the tragedy of the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Until 
the next surface transportation bill, we must ensure that our roads and 
bridges are receiving the funding and support needed to be safe and 
secure for our communities. We must also address the negative effects 
of the rising costs in fuel. Congestion on our roads has resulted in 26 
gallons of wasted fuel per person, costing our constituents $78 billion 
annually.
  Over the years we have heard time and again from the President that 
we must decrease our dependence on foreign oil, yet he has proposed 
cutting funding for our highway and transit programs, mass transit 
expansions and Amtrak by $2 billion below authorized levels. The 
Democrats will not stand for this and instead propose increasing the 
investment in transportation infrastructure by $41.2 billion for 
highway programs, $10.3 billion for transit, $1.3 billion for highway 
safety and $3.9 billion in airport improvement grants. This will save 
our constituents delays on the roads and in the airports and reduce 
pollution and fuel needs.
  Just this week it was announced that Michigan is sixth in the nation 
for foreclosures; nationally almost 2.8 million homeowners are at risk 
of losing their homes to foreclosures. Last year the House passed 
legislation that would create an affordable housing fund, which is 
currently awaiting Senate consideration. This budget takes a step 
forward by providing needed funding for the $2.8 billion shortfall for 
the project-based rental assistance program at the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development and provides funding for tenant-based 
rental assistance.
  The Democratic budget would also help those that are struggling with 
home heating costs by rejecting the President's cut to the Low-Income 
Home Energy Assistant Program. Since 2001, home heating costs have gone 
up by 80 percent. There is no reason our families should be choosing 
between groceries and heat during the tough winter months.
  While the President can propose cutting funding, Congress will 
continue to provide funding for bipartisan programs such as our water 
and natural resources programs. This budget rejects the proposed $2.9 
billion in cuts and instead invests in water infrastructure that

[[Page E420]]

will promote and protect our clean and safe drinking water supplies.
  The Democratic budget provides tax relief for the middle class 
families that need it most. The Democratic budget will continue the tax 
cuts for the middle class, while also preventing 20 million families 
from being subject to the alternative minimum tax.
  Finally, earlier this year, I wrote a letter to Chairman Spratt 
requesting that he keep in mind the plight of the millions of Iraqi 
refugees and internally displaced persons when preparing the budget 
priorities for this year. I am happy that he was able to include 
language in the Committee Report accompanying the budget document 
recognizing this humanitarian crisis.
  Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to say that not only have we received the 
last budget proposal from this Administration, but it is also the last 
budget of empty promises. I look forward to passing the Democratic 
budget resolution proving Congress's commitment to our American 
families. More importantly, I look forward to working next year with my 
colleagues and the next Administration to develop a fiscally 
responsible budget that will finally put the needs of our country 
first.

                          ____________________