[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 92 (Thursday, June 5, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H4989-H5001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. CON. RES. 70, CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE 
                      BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1214, I call up 
the conference report on the Senate concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 
70) setting forth the congressional budget for the United States 
Government for fiscal year 2009 and including the appropriate budgetary 
levels for fiscal years 2008 and 2010 through 2013.
  The Clerk read the title of the Senate concurrent resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1214, the 
conference report is considered read.
  (For conference report and statement, see proceedings of the House of 
May 20, 2008, at page H4217.)
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to that rule, the gentleman from 
South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan) 
each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, every year the Budget Committee has one all-
important task, and that's to outline a budget for Congress to follow. 
Today, we do just that as we pass the conference agreement on the 
budget for fiscal 2009. The Senate passed the conference agreement just 
yesterday.
  Passing a budget is never an easy task. This, in fact, will be the 
first time in 8 years that Congress has passed a concurrent budget 
resolution in an election year. Our conference agreement charts a new 
course. It returns the budget to balance reaching a surplus of $22 
billion in the year 2012 and staying in surplus through 2013. Our 
budget adheres to pay-as-you-go

[[Page H4990]]

because we believe in it. It embraces middle-income tax cuts and holds 
non-defense domestic discretionary spending to an increase of about 1 
percent over inflation.

                              {time}  1100

  Our budget begins by undoing the damages done by the President's 
budget to services that people depend upon.
  Take Medicare and Medicaid, for example, pillars of medical care for 
millions of Americans. The President would cut Medicare by $479 billion 
over the next 10 years and Medicaid by $94 billion. We reject those 
cuts. We restore Medicare and Medicaid to current services, and we 
accommodate adding up to $50 billion more for the Children's Health 
Insurance Program, fully offset, to reach the millions of children who 
are eligible but not yet enrolled in CHIP.
  The President proposes $18 billion in cuts over 5 years in new fees 
on military retirees and veterans, actually increases in fees of $18 
billion. We reject those fees and add $3.7 billion above current 
services to the veterans' health care system.
  The President even digs into education, cutting Function 500, 
education, training, employment and social services, not only next year 
but over the next 5 years by $32.7 billion. We reject the President's 
cuts in education and, in particular, his elimination of 47 educational 
programs. Instead, we make significant increases for education every 
year over the next 5 years.
  Our budget supports not just investments in education as such, but in 
research and development and science and innovation, through NIH and 
NSF and other entities, providing substantially more than the President 
requested.
  Finally, since strong countries are made up of strong communities, we 
believe that law enforcement grants and community development grants 
and transportation grants are part of the Federal role. We, therefore, 
reverse the President's deep cuts in the community development and 
social services block grants and in LIHEAP and law enforcement, and our 
budget invests in the Nation's infrastructure.
  Because this budget upholds all of these priorities, it has drawn 
support from dozens of nonpartisan groups, from the AARP to the 
American Legion to the American Hospital Association. All of them and 
many more have sent us letters of support, and I encourage my 
colleagues to support it as well.
  We face in this country not just this budget deficit, not just a 
trade deficit, but an energy deficit that is on the minds of us all. 
Read the President's budget, however, and you will find little that's 
new about skyrocketing energy costs, renewable energy, clean fuel 
technology, conservation, and efficiency. What you will find are heavy 
hits on LIHEAP, the one program that helps families weather the high 
price of fuel oil, heat their homes in winter and cool them in summer. 
Our budget restores LIHEAP to a level that's $3 billion above the 
President's budget. And for funding development of alternative fuels, 
renewable energies, and other energy initiatives, our budget provides 
$7.7 billion.
  As I mentioned, this conference agreement extends tax cuts to help 
middle-income families caught in the current slump. For example, we 
protect 20 million middle-income households from being hit by the 
alternative minimum tax, 20 million Americans for whom it was never 
intended. We accommodate the extension of the middle-income tax cuts, 
the child tax credit, marriage penalty relief, and the 10 percent 
individual income tax bracket.
  Our colleagues on the other side will claim, however, that this 
budget raises taxes. Let me say emphatically, this budget does not 
raise taxes. But don't take my word for it. Here's what outside experts 
say.
  The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: ``The conference 
agreement does not raise taxes.''
  The Hamilton Project of the Brookings Institution: ``The budget would 
not raise taxes.''
  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: ``This year's budget does 
not include a tax increase.''
  There is one other criticism our colleagues across the aisle may make 
but cannot sustain as to this conference agreement. In terms of 
national security, we provide the same dollars as the President's base 
budget requested, except that we call for better stewardship and better 
priorities, such as nonproliferation, supporting nonproliferation of 
nuclear weapons and materials, maybe the most menacing threat facing 
us.
  If anything, our conference agreement protects the homeland and 
internal security more than the President's budget because we reverse 
his cuts in local law enforcement and firefighters and the Coast Guard 
and the first responders. Most important of all, we do everything that 
I have cited within the context of a balanced budget.
  When President Bush took office in 2001 the budget was in surplus by 
$236 billion. His economists looked out over 10 years and saw nothing 
but surpluses, $5.6 trillion in all. President Bush told the country we 
could have it all, guns, butter and tax cuts, too, and never mind the 
deficit. Now, almost 8 years later, we see the disastrous consequences. 
Under the fiscal policies of this administration, the Bush 
administration, our national debt has mushroomed, increased from $5.7 
trillion in 2001 to $10 trillion in 2009.
  Since the Republicans controlled the House, the Senate and the White 
House during much of this time, they cannot escape responsibility for 
these abysmal fiscal results.
  Faced with these grim facts, what does the President's budget propose 
for 2009? More of the same. He is still in effect saying that we can 
have the guns and the butter and the tax cuts, too, and that deficits 
don't really matter because foreign investors will keeping buying our 
Treasury bonds.
  In contrast, the budget before us is a step in the right direction. 
It may not be the grand or final solution, but this budget moves us in 
the right direction, enforcing fiscal responsibility, though not to the 
exclusion of other values that we hold dear.
  I urge support for this conference agreement by all Members of the 
House.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  First off, I want to start by congratulating Chairman Spratt. I 
mentioned this last time, but I think it is worth repeating. It is 
never easy to bring a budget conference report to bear, particularly in 
an election year, and Congress has had a pretty splotchy, spotty track 
record on this lately, and the chairman deserves accolades for keeping 
this process going, keeping this process alive.
  We've had problems with the farm bill, and this bill being on the 
floor today is real proof of the skill and determination by the Budget 
chairman, and so I want to give him the compliment he deserves for 
bringing this to the floor.
  It's important that we have a budget process. It's important that we 
recognize the need to budget in this institution, and doing this today 
recognizes that. But at the same time, Congress actually should budget, 
and I would argue, Mr. Speaker, that this budget is really nothing more 
than the congressional baseline with about a quarter of a trillion 
dollars slopped on top of it for the Appropriations Committee.
  And so what is the opportunity we have here today if we were actually 
really budgeting? I think there's three things that we ought to be 
doing in this budget in this Congress.
  One, let's have solid growth in our economy, and let's make sure we 
put ourselves in the position to lead in the international marketplace 
by having an economic policy that puts America ahead, in the lead and 
in a position to win in this era of global competition.
  Number two, we need to reform our health and retirement security 
programs so we can fulfill the mission of our health and retirement 
security programs in this country. The government is making promises to 
people right now in health and retirement security that it knows it 
can't keep. We all know this here. We know, Republicans, Democrats, 
that our government is making promises to a generation of Americans and 
another generation of Americans that we know are unsustainable. So we 
need to come up with a plan to make good on that promise, which right 
now is not being fulfilled.
  And number three, while we do that, we have got to lift this burden 
of debt

[[Page H4991]]

on the next generation. We, with this budget, are going faster down the 
pathway of sending a crushing burden of debt and taxes on the next 
generation. Both parties are to blame for this. So I'm not simply 
saying that all of the sudden now the Democrats are running Congress 
it's all bad. Both parties have been responsible for not addressing 
these problems. But now that my friends on the other side of the aisle 
are in the majority, this is their opportunity. This is their chance 
and opportunity to actually address this problem and take it head-on. 
And what are they doing? Nothing about it.
  Here's the problem, Mr. Speaker. Not only does this budget propose to 
do nothing to address these issues, it makes them worse. Because by 
doing nothing, we're going deeper into debt.
  Under this budget, what this budget proposes we do for 5 years, by 
doing nothing to address the two biggest problems we have, the two 
biggest programs we have, the two biggest unfulfilled promises we have, 
namely, Medicare and Social Security, this budget proposes to go $14 
trillion deeper in debt to just those two programs alone; by doing 
nothing for 1 year according to the trustees of Medicare and Social 
Security, $2 trillion deeper into debt. This budget, $14 trillion 
increase.
  But here's also what this budget does propose. What it does propose 
is the largest tax increase in American history, $683 billion over the 
next 5 years. That equals about $2,000 in per year tax increase on the 
average American family, and there's no effort to cut wasteful spending 
in government whatsoever.
  We've heard about the Bridge to Nowhere. We've heard about the $50 
million rain forest museum. We heard about the bill passed 2 weeks ago 
to give $250 million for one earmark from a Senator from the other side 
of the Rotunda for one company. We're earmarking ourselves to oblivion 
in this Congress, and this bill does nothing to curtail that. This bill 
basically assumes that there's no waste in the Federal Government, that 
every taxpayer dollar is being spent well and wisely and with full 
accounting and full transparency, and because of that, this ought to 
give the government even more money to spend on top of the baseline.
  This bill will push the appropriations above the $1 trillion mark in 
the next coming year. That's an increase of $80 billion, an increase of 
9 percent over last year. This bill, as a consequence of giving this 9 
percent increase in discretionary spending, will lead to the largest 
annual increase in the debt in our Nation's history.
  And so for all the talk of fiscal conservatism, for all the talk of 
fiscal responsibility we're going to hear in the next hour, this bill 
right here we're debating, right here, largest increase in debt in our 
Nation's history, exceeding the $1 trillion mark in government agency 
spending.
  And this bill does absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing, to address 
the upcoming entitlement crisis. As I mentioned, this bill adds to the 
entitlement crisis. It increases the entitlement liability in this 
country by 37 percent, $14 trillion increase in unfulfilled promises 
and contingent liability, a 37 percent increase.
  Now, given the fact that this bill does nothing to address the long-
run problems in this country, what about the short-run? What about the 
problems in the short-run? This bill does nothing to propose any new 
energy policy whatsoever.
  We have $4 gasoline, and this is where it really hits close to home. 
This is where I really have a personal problem with the fact that we're 
doing this bill. You know, just 2 days ago in my hometown of 
Janesville, Wisconsin, General Motors just announced they're shutting 
down the factory there, the factory that has produced the Yukon, the 
Tahoe and the Suburban. And the reason they're shutting down the 
factory at the end of this model year is because of $4 gas. It costs a 
hundred bucks to fill up a Suburban, and people aren't buying them. 
Thirty percent decline in sales just this year alone, and people are 
scratching their heads and wondering how did this happen, how did this 
come to be, why do we have $4 gas.
  Well, here's the problem, Mr. Speaker, we're 60 percent dependent on 
foreign oil, and you know what's so galling about that is the fact that 
we have about seven times the amount of oil under our ground in this 
country than Saudi Arabia has under theirs. Yet it's all off-limits.
  We have got 16 billion barrels of oil up in ANWR that are off-limits 
by Congress. We've got 86 billion barrels of oil in the Outer 
Continental Shelf off-limits by Congress. We have 2 trillion barrels of 
oil in the Intermountain Region in this country, all off-limits by 
Congress.
  We know how to drill in a very safe and environmentally sound way. 
And what's more galling from that is the Congressional Research Service 
is now telling us, just passing the ANWR legislation, the smallest of 
these three fields I just mentioned, would get us about $191 billion in 
revenue to the Federal Government over the next 10 years.
  Imagine what we could do with that. Imagine the deficit reduction 
that could occur as a consequence of that. Imagine the hydrogen, the 
fuel cells, the research that we could do to actually invest in a 
Manhattan Project to get us off of oil itself. But unfortunately, my 
friends on the other side of the aisle are not doing anything.
  So while I'm happy we have a budget resolution on the floor, I'm very 
dispirited and very disappointed in its content. Largest tax increase 
in American history. Absolutely nothing to confront the entitlement 
crisis in this country, a 37 percent increase in this liability. 
Largest increase in national debt in the American history. And nothing 
to address the long-term and nothing to address the short-term by 
making us less dependent on foreign oil.
  I find it interesting that our friends on the other side of the aisle 
are so critical of our foreign policy as being too unilateral; yet what 
we're simply saying to other countries is we're going to drill for oil 
in your country and buy that from you and not explore it in our own 
country. A little bit of a hypocritical stance, I would argue.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1115

  Mr. SPRATT. I yield myself 30 seconds before yielding to the 
gentleman from Texas.
  Let me just make clear, this budget moves us to balance in 2012. And 
the fact of the matter is, the plain history of the matter is that when 
the Republicans took the White House in 2001, the budget the year 
before was $236 billion in surplus. By the year 2004, they had made 
that surplus advantage to where we had a deficit of $412 billion, a 
swing of $648 billion on their watch. They controlled the House, they 
controlled the Senate, they controlled the White House; and they've 
added $4 trillion to the national debt.
  I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, this budget resolution provides 
``unwavering support for our Nation's sick and disabled veterans, as 
well as all of the men and women who have so honorably served this 
country.'' Those are not my words. They are the words of the Disabled 
American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, and the 
Paralyzed Veterans of America in a letter sent May 20 to Budget 
Chairman Spratt.
  After years of veterans' budgets that barely, if at all, kept pace 
with inflation, leaving America's heroes with inadequate health care 
and benefits, it is now a new day, a better day for our veterans.
  Two weeks ago, the American Legion said this about last year's 
Democratic budget, ``For the first time in decades, the veterans and 
military community had a budget resolution worthy of the sacrifice 
asked of America's veterans and their families.'' It went on to say 
that, ``This budget resolution for fiscal year 2009 reflects the 
continued commitment to those earned benefits provided by a grateful 
Nation in recognition of honorable military service.'' That's what 
veterans leaders say about this budget.
  We, in this resolution, add $4.9 billion to last year's historic 
increase in veterans' health care and benefits. This year's increase is 
$3.3 billion above President Bush's request. What does this mean? It 
means improved mental health care services for Iraq and Afghan war 
vets, more clinics for vets in

[[Page H4992]]

rural areas, and shorter waiting times for doctor appointments, and 
earned benefits.
  This budget also targets funding toward our most pressing national 
security needs, such as military readiness, and protecting Americans 
from the threat of nuclear terrorism. It rejects the President's 
proposed TRICARE health care premium increases for those who have 
served our Nation's military for more than 20 years.
  Mr. Speaker, supporting our troops, our veterans, and their families 
is what Americans do. It is who we are. Since our Nation's founding, 
shared sacrifice during time of war has been a quintessential American 
value, a promise to keep. Under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi and 
Chairman Spratt, we are keeping that promise to America's heroes.
  Vote ``yes'' on this resolution.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, let me inquire as to how much 
time remains for each side.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Wisconsin has 21\1/2\ 
minutes remaining. The gentleman from South Carolina has 21 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. At this time, Mr. Speaker, I will yield 2 
minutes to the gentleman from Texas, a distinguished member of the 
Budget Committee, Mr. Conaway.
  Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time, and I also want to 
congratulate our chairman on getting the job done. Getting a budget is 
obviously never easy in an election year, it's never easy in an off 
year, but his perseverance has us here today debating a budget that I 
couldn't be more strongly against.
  It fails on a number of occasions, a number of points, not the least 
of which is that it fails to address entitlement reform. We have recent 
reports that we've got some $57 trillion in unfunded promises that 
we've made to each other; no attempt to address that. What that means 
is this government, over the next 75 years, would have to run a $57 
trillion surplus in order to make that work. And this government has 
never been good at running surpluses. In fact, if you look at the last 
40 or 45 years, there is only a handful of years in which an actual 
surplus occurred.
  Now, the other side talks often about the projected surpluses that 
were there in 1999 and 2000, but those projections weren't worth the 
paper they were written on as it turns out, as no projections are. But 
the actual surpluses in years totaled some $17 billion, well short of 
the $57 trillion that we'll need to run in order to meet these 
promises.
  This budget does include $683 billion in new spending that they fund 
through the tax increases that will automatically happen in the law 
that's currently in place. Now, you will hear a lot of rhetoric about 
this being the largest tax increase ever; and we'll say it is, they'll 
say it's not. It's true, there is no tax law included in this budget. 
But what happens with the tax law that's currently in place is that the 
projections are that it collects an additional $683 billion in taxes 
from the hardworking Americans and companies in this country. And this 
budget gives us a blueprint of what the other side intends to do with 
it. They don't intend to address the surplus, they intend to spend it 
on other programs and continue to grow this Federal Government.
  So, while I congratulate my chairman on getting this to where we are 
today, I intend to vote against this bill and urge my colleagues to 
vote against it as well.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Virginia, a member of the committee, Mr. Scott.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, when we talk about the budget, it's helpful to know 
where we are and how we got here. This chart shows the budget deficit 
over the years and shows that when President Clinton came in, we 
reversed the trend of deficit and actually went into surplus and were 
going to stay into surplus until the Republican leadership had a 
President who would actually sign their bills. We immediately went in 
the ditch and have bounced around in the ditch ever since then.
  We had, when this administration came in, a projected surplus of $5.5 
trillion, more than enough to pay Social Security for 75 years without 
reducing benefits. Unfortunately, those 8 years will come in at about a 
$3 trillion deficit, a reversal of over $8.5 trillion deterioration.
  And although they overspent the budget that much, they didn't create 
any jobs. This is the job growth since the Great Depression. These last 
8 years have produced the worst job growth since the Great Depression.
  And so we have a budget that will reverse this. We have a budget that 
is fiscally responsible, it balances in 2012, remains in balance using 
realistic CBO estimates. It posts smaller deficits over the 5 years 
than the Republican alternative. It continues emphasis on fiscal 
responsibility by maintaining pay-as-you-go that served us so well 
during the 1990s.
  It also addresses our priorities, increases veterans' funding, energy 
funding, particularly renewable energy and energy efficiency, and 
assistance to low-income families. It invests in education and social 
services. It rejects the administration's cuts in environmental 
protection. It funds first responders, community development, and other 
high-priority services. It fully funds the defense budget.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. SPRATT. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. It also maintains accommodations for 
children's health care, higher education, and rejects the cuts in 
Medicare and Medicaid. It does this, maintaining the middle class tax 
cuts. So instead of following the reckless fiscal policies of the past, 
instead of following the reckless recommendations of this 
administration, this responsible budget funds our priorities in a 
fiscally responsible way.
  I want to thank the gentleman from South Carolina for his leadership 
in presenting this fiscally responsible budget. I urge my colleagues to 
adopt this conference report.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. At this point, Mr. Speaker, I would like to 
yield 2 minutes to the vice ranking member of the Budget Committee, Mr. 
Barrett from South Carolina.
  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition of the budget conference 
report.
  By allowing tax relief to expire, the House-passed Democrat budget 
resolution calls for a $683 billion tax hike. And in my home State of 
South Carolina, the Democrat budget is about a $2,500 tax increase for 
the average South Carolinian's home. This would be, Mr. Speaker, the 
largest tax increase in history.
  The government spends too much money, Mr. Speaker, and I can't 
imagine giving the government an additional $683 billion. We have 
serious challenges facing the Nation, and money is not the answer.
  The conference report fails in many areas, but the most notable is in 
spending. It increases discretionary spending by $21 billion above the 
President's request and pushes discretionary spending past the $1 
trillion mark in FY 2009.
  It fails to maintain emergency funds that were included in the 
Republican 2007 budget resolution. It has 37 reserve funds, which 
include the promise of billions of additional spending, which I can 
only assume will be paid in additional taxes.
  And finally, the House Budget Committee listened to testimony from 
budget experts indicating that our Nation was facing a financial crisis 
when it comes to entitlement spending, yet the conference report does 
nothing to truly address this issue. We cannot continue just to raise 
taxes and hope that entitlements will be solved by themselves, Mr. 
Speaker.
  And lastly, Mr. Speaker, in a time when we have economic hardships 
with our folks trying to put their entire paycheck in their gas tanks, 
to bring tax increases, additional spending, more government regulation 
I think is unconscionable.
  So I would urge my colleagues to vote against this budget resolution 
and bring some fiscal sanity back into this process.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) be allowed to manage time for our 
side for a moment of time.

[[Page H4993]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Moore), also a member of the committee.
  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, with the consideration of this budget resolution 
conference report, we're taking another important step towards 
restoring fiscal discipline as a priority of our Congress, and that's 
why I rise today to express my support.
  We all know it's going to be a great challenge to get our fiscal 
house in order after 7 years of mismanagement and an increase in our 
national debt of $3.4 trillion. We must recognize the serious fiscal 
situation our country is in and begin to take practical steps to 
address it. This budget does it.
  I am policy cochair for a group in Congress called the Blue Dog 
Coalition. We believe in fiscal responsibility and being within a 
budget, like most American families do, and this budget puts us on a 
path to reach a balanced budget by 2012.
  Responsible budgeting is about enforcing strong budgetary principles, 
which is why I'm very pleased this budge adheres to what we call PAYGO, 
pay-as-you-go, and that it contains a commitment to the extension of 
statutory PAYGO requirements.
  This budget directs House committees to conduct regular performance 
reviews of programs, recommend legislative and administrative measures 
to improve them, and to identify waste and to eliminate waste and 
unnecessary spending. These efforts, in combination with the House 
PAYGO rule, will provide House committees with incentives to seek out 
and eliminate inefficient programs.
  Finally, you will continue to hear talk about this budget raising 
taxes on middle class and working families. It does nothing of the 
sort. It specifically calls for a responsible fix of the alternative 
minimum tax and the extension of middle-income tax relief in a manner 
that is fiscally responsible and does not pass on trillions of dollars 
of debt to our children and grandchildren.
  This budget resolution is not perfect, but it's another important 
step towards restoring fiscal discipline as a guiding value of our 
government. The Blue Dog group in Congress is dedicated to seeing that 
commitments made in this budget are adhered to so we can put our 
country back on a sustainable fiscal path, and we're not mortgaging the 
future of our children and grandchildren.
  As a member of the House Budget Committee, I would like to thank 
Chairman Spratt and his great staff for all the work they do.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote on this resolution.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, it was about 2 weeks ago that the front page of the USA 
Today publication wrote, ``Taxpayers' Bill Leaps By Trillions.'' The 
first sentence says, ``The Federal Government's long-term financial 
obligations grew by $2.5 last year, a reflection of the mushrooming 
cost of Medicare, Social Security benefits.''
  $2.5 trillion, Mr. Speaker, under the Democrat watch imposed upon the 
next generation. It just so happens that two members of the next 
generation that I'm very concerned about, my 6-year-old daughter and my 
4-year-old son, are in the gallery today. And I take the matter very, 
very seriously that we have a Democrat budget before us today that is 
absolutely stone cold silent on the number one threat to their future 
of greater opportunity and greater freedom. And this budget, this 
Democrat budget does nothing to reform entitlement spending, to give us 
greater retirement security and better health care at a more reasonable 
cost.
  Mr. Speaker, there is a tale of two budgets here. One, again, is 
stone cold silent on reforming entitlement spending that threatens to 
bankrupt future generations, including my children.
  Let me tell you what it's not silent on. It's not silent on tax 
increases. This budget includes the single largest tax increase in 
American history. An average family of four working in the Fifth 
Congressional District of Texas--that I have the honor of 
representing--over the course of the next 3 years will see a $3,000-a-
year tax increase at a time when they're having to go to the 
convenience store and making the decision, do I buy a gallon of milk or 
do I buy a gallon of gas?
  What does this budget do? It raises taxes on a family of four by 
$3,000. The elderly will see their taxes go up $2,181. A single parent 
who has two children could see their taxes go up by over $1,600. People 
are wondering, how am I going to send my kids to college? How am I 
going to put gas into the pick-up truck? How are we going to commute 
the 25 miles to work every day? And what does this budget do, Mr. 
Speaker? It raises taxes, single largest tax increase in American 
history.
  Here's another thing this budget does. It says, you know what? The 
pork barrel factory is alive and well. Let's just keep it going. Let's 
let Members of Congress continue to have monuments to themselves. Let's 
continue to subsidize fashion landscaping in the L.A. fashion district, 
and let's send the bill to the next generation and let's send it to the 
taxpayers.

                              {time}  1130

  Mr. Speaker, this is an outrage, and for the sake of today's 
taxpayers who are struggling and for the sake of future generations, we 
must reject this conference report.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maine (Mr. Allen).
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 2009 budget 
resolution before us today.
  I want to thank Chairman Spratt and my other colleagues on the Budget 
Committee for their hard work in bringing to the House a bill that 
represents the priorities of this Congress.
  This budget places families and communities first. It increases 
funding for our veterans so they receive the health care and benefits 
they have earned and deserve. It increases funding for homeland 
security officers, including funding for firefighters and police 
officers, who keep our communities safe. It protects Medicare and 
Medicaid and includes a plan to increase the State Children's Health 
Insurance Program to keep our communities healthy. It protects funding 
for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and funds important 
efforts to promote renewable energy initiatives and protect our 
environment. This budget stands in sharp contrast to the President's 
proposals, which included cuts to these vital domestic programs that 
invest in our children, our communities, and our economy.
  In order to strengthen our economy and our country, we must invest in 
those who drive it: the middle class. That is why this budget also 
includes a plan which I strongly support that will extend and expand 
middle class tax cuts, including the child tax credit, marriage penalty 
relief, and the 10 percent bracket.
  This is a budget that will strengthen our middle class, our 
communities, and our economy and make our country safer. I urge my 
colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am pleased to yield 3 
minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren).
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, when you try a 
lawsuit, one of the things they say to you is to pick out just a few 
salient facts, talk about that during the argument through the 
questioning of the various witnesses, and, hopefully, those few facts 
or statements will appear in the instructions to the jury, and then in 
your final argument you refer to those. So the hope is that, as the 
jury deliberates, the jury will have a chance to think about the most 
important facts.
  So in attempting to distill this argument about the budget down, I 
have tried to figure out a couple salient facts. And it seems to me the 
one needs repeating and repeating and repeating is the most obvious 
one: the largest single tax increase in the history of this Congress, 
which means in the history of this Nation, which means in the history 
of the world, $683 billion over the next 5 years.
  Now, one of the reasons I think it's a salient fact is that we 
oftentimes just gloss over that. Yesterday we had a bill on the floor 
in which we were starting an entirely new program where we are now on 
the Federal level going to be responsible for paying for heating and 
air conditioning of local schools. Now,

[[Page H4994]]

heating and air conditioning of local schools is important, but when 
did that become a Federal responsibility? But the argument we heard on 
the floor was, well, they can't afford it at the local level; so, 
therefore, we magically can support it on the Federal level. What does 
that translate into? The largest single tax increase in the history of 
the American people, in the history of this Congress, in the history of 
the world.
  We passed a farm bill, which we found, as it was going through, got 
larger and larger and larger and larger and larger, and we set up price 
supports for certain commodities at historically high levels so that if 
corn, which is now at the all-time high level, which is causing ripples 
through the international system and one of the reasons causing some 
lack of food to be available to people, if somehow we come to our 
senses and say maybe we want too far on corn ethanol production and the 
price drops, what happens? The American people magically pay for it 
because we've set price supports up so high that they're above the 
historically high levels, billions of dollars.
  Two weeks ago we voted on this floor for foreign aid for cats and 
dogs. Now, we bring up suspension bills all the time when we don't have 
other important things to do, and sometimes at the end of the session, 
we say now we'll bring out the cats and dogs, and I have been here for 
14 years and I've seen that happen. This is the first time in my 14 
years that we actually voted on cats and dogs. We voted for foreign aid 
for cats and dogs. How can we do that? All you have to do is pass the 
budget with the largest single tax hike in the history of the Nation.
  It seems to me, with all due respect to my friend the gentleman from 
South Carolina, the distinguished chairman of this committee, who has 
done yeomen's work to try to bring this forward, he is being pushed and 
pulled, and, unfortunately, we brought forth this, not a mouse but the 
largest single tax increase in the history of the world.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).
  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, we have put children in single-parent homes in an 
untenable situation. On the one hand, we demand that their parents move 
off welfare and take financial responsibility for these families and 
that absent parents, fathers typically, work and pay child support, but 
on the other hand, government bureaucracies continue to skim dollars 
off child support repayments intended for these needy children because 
of administrative costs.
  Child support payments are often the only safety net still available 
for kids in single-parent families. Congress should make every effort 
to ensure that child support is collected and that all of it goes to 
families to whom they are owed and who are working so hard to succeed.
  That's why I am absolutely delighted that a provision that I 
introduced, along with my good friend from Wisconsin, the ranking 
member of the Budget Committee, Paul Ryan, was included in this budget 
resolution. It restores the ability of States to pass along every cent 
of child support collected, ensuring that the dollars get to where 
they're intended and not into government pocketbooks. This is a 
commonsense provision that will help parents as the cost of living 
continues to rise.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote on this important budget agreement.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this budget. It 
represents a downpayment on our commitment to restoring middle class 
prosperity, a clear, practical approach to strengthen our economy, help 
our workforce thrive, and allow families to reach for the American 
Dream.
  Today the Bush economy continues to weigh heavily on America's 
families and businesses. Incomes are down; everything else is up. Gas 
prices, food prices, the cost of health care and higher education.
  This back-to-basics budget maintains fiscal discipline, reaching 
balance in 2012, remains in balance in 2013. If we pass this budget, it 
will mark the first time since 2000 that the Congress has been able to 
agree on a budget blueprint in an election year.
  What does the budget mean? Middle class tax relief, including an 
extension to the refundable child tax credit and the Senate reserve 
fund to lower the income threshold and extend the benefit to more 
families. Last month we recognized the importance of expanding the 
child tax credit, lowering the income eligibility threshold to $8,500, 
providing relief to more than 12 million children.
  It means crucial support for energy initiatives. It means enhancing 
our competitive edge, increasing funding for math and science education 
and research. And at the same time, we reject the administration's cuts 
to Medicare and Medicaid, first responder grants, emergency home 
heating assistance, and Community Development Block Grants. We bolster 
our economy's long-term health and help workers by making an investment 
in our national infrastructure and creating quality jobs, rebuilding 
crumbling bridges, fixing our roads, and reducing congestion, paving 
the way for new growth and new opportunity.
  I urge my colleagues to stand behind this responsible budget. It is 
the foundation of a safe country, a strong economy, and future growth.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am pleased to yield 2 
minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan).
  Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress right now is a dysfunctional place. We've got 
terrorists who want to kill us, and we can't pass the FISA law. We've 
got $4 gas, and we can't drill for more oil. And now in the face of a 
$10 trillion national debt, we have a budget in front of us that has 
the largest tax increase in history and is the largest budget in 
history. It just doesn't make sense.
  In this time of economic uncertainty, with record-high energy prices, 
with the cost of food and fuel taking an increasing share of the family 
budget, Congress has a moral responsibility, a moral responsibility, to 
find ways to tighten its belt. Congress should be laser focused on 
cutting wasteful and redundant spending from the Federal budget in 
order to lower taxes to let families and business owners and taxpayers 
keep more of what they earn.
  This budget, the largest in human history, does exactly the opposite. 
It has the largest tax increase in history to pay for the largest 
spending in history. This budget spends $100,000 per second, $6 million 
per minute, $350 million an hour every day for the entire year. It 
spends more than $23,000 per family, again, a record amount. Does the 
average American family feel they're getting their $23,000 worth from 
the Federal Government? It sort of reminds me of I think it was Will 
Rogers, who said, if we ever get all the government we pay for, look 
out.
  Mr. Speaker, this reckless, out-of-control spending is not only 
unneeded; it has put us on a path toward economic disaster.
  And I will be the first to admit Congress' spending problem wasn't 
created overnight and the blame does not lie in the lap of one single 
party. In terms of real fiscal year 2000 dollars, real dollars, 
Congress has quadrupled spending over my lifetime with both parties 
sharing in the blame. Our priorities have shifted dramatically from 
national defense and toward entitlement spending. It has become clear 
to me that here in Congress, the dials are always set to ``spend.'' 
It's spend and tax. That's always the program.
  I think back to the amendments I offered last year during the 
appropriations process, nine amendments that would have saved $23 
billion by simply asking Federal agencies to do what all kinds of 
families have had to do: spend the previous year's amount, hold the 
line on spending. These amendments were defeated on party-line votes, 
with Members of the majority claiming the sky would fall, the world 
would end if we could not increase spending at three or more times the 
rate of inflation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman's time has expired.
  Mr. HENSARLING. I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.
  Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. The government managed to survive 3 months on

[[Page H4995]]

a continuing resolution doing just that, living on the previous year's 
budget. If we can do it for 3 months, we can do it for a long time and 
we can save the taxpayers a lot of money.
  The American people are ready for change. They're tired of reckless 
spending that happens in the Halls of their Congress. They demand that 
we stand up and do the right thing. I would urge my colleagues to join 
me in rejecting this conference report in favor of a more conservative, 
fiscally responsible budget that respects taxpayers, business owners, 
and families across this country.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's newfound concern 
for the budget deficit, but let me remind him from 2001 through 2007, 
his party controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House and 
accumulated a record debt and record deficits, and it takes a long time 
to turn this battleship around, but that's what we do in this budget.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Boyd).
  Mr. BOYD of Florida. I thank the chairman, my friend from South 
Carolina (Mr. Spratt), for not only the time but for his hard work in 
bringing this blueprint to the floor, for our vision about how this 
government ought to be run and how we manage the economic model.
  Mr. Speaker and ladies and gentlemen, running a government shouldn't 
be rocket science, especially a great government like ours and a great 
country like ours. You identify the priorities that government should 
do. You perform those priorities well. They are limited. You know what 
they are. And you are willing to pay for them. That model, ladies and 
gentlemen, should continuously strive to enlarge the middle class. Let 
me say that again. This economic model and this government function 
should be continuously striving to enlarge and enhance the middle class 
of this country.
  For the last 8 years, 7\1/2\ years, we've had policies which have 
shrunk the middle class. We have had a continuous increase of spending, 
continuous decrease in revenues. We go to the People's Republic of 
China and other lenders to fund the difference, and we've got a fiscal 
mess.

                              {time}  1145

  This vision, this blueprint, this budget that John Spratt and Senator 
Conrad have brought to us in the form of a conference report changes 
that and puts us on a path to balancing our budget, complying with the 
PAYGO principles, which we strongly believe in, and also performing the 
functions that a government should perform in this great Nation of 
ours.
  I strongly urge and hope that you will vote for this conference 
report. Again, I want to thank Chairman Spratt for all his hard work in 
getting us to this point.
  Mr. HENSARLING. At this time I yield 2 minutes to the champion 
against pork barrel spending in the United States, the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Flake).
  Mr. FLAKE. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  It was once said of someone who didn't know exactly where he was 
going that he was traipsing down a flower-strewn path unpricked by 
thorns of reason. I don't think there's a better description of what 
this budget is, than that, traipsing down a flower-strewn path 
unpricked by thorns of reason.
  We were just told the other day, the gentleman from Texas mentioned 
it, that when you include all unfunded liabilities, not just the 
national debt out there, but all the money that we promise to pay out, 
that every American citizen owes something like $500,000. Nearly half a 
million dollars for every person living. Yet, this budget does nothing 
to change the course of that.
  We will be adding a couple trillion dollars every year in fact that 
this budget is in place. Over the next 5 years we will go from 
something like $39 trillion to $52 trillion in unfunded liabilities.
  I am not here to defend our record as Republicans when we were here. 
We did terrible, frankly, in terms of reining in spending. We added a 
new entitlement program, Medicare part D, which Democrats by and large 
voted against. If you didn't like it, please repeal it now. Some of us 
on this side didn't either. But it's bankrupting us and we can't 
continue to traipse down a flower-strewn path unpricked by thorns of 
reason.
  These budgets have consequences, and the consequence here is we are 
saddling future generations with untold debt, debt that you can't even 
contemplate, debt that dwarfs most Americans' personal debt, a mortgage 
that they pay on a house, that they owe to their Federal Government. 
Yet we still continue to add program after program, new entitlements, 
new spending.
  Just last week, a huge massive bloated farm bill was passed. Just 
yesterday, we were getting into construction for school facilities. We 
can't continue to do this.
  Please reject this budget.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished 
majority leader, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).
  Mr. HOYER. I always think my friend from Arizona is so rational, and 
I thought he was today. I always appreciate his remarks. It's a shame 
that together we have not reached what I think we need to reach, 
whether it's on entitlements, which are obviously an extraordinary 
challenge, or on discretionary spending, or on taxes, on revenues, on 
paying for what we buy.
  The flower-strewn path unpricked by reason. Nineteen years of 
Republican Presidents during my term in the Congress of the United 
States have presided. They're the one person in the United States of 
America that can stop spending in its tracks. The only person. Nineteen 
years of Republican Presidents, $4.13 trillion of deficit spending and 
$1.68 trillion of that has been in the last 6 years. Eight years under 
Bill Clinton, $62.9 billion-surplus. That is the 27 years that I have 
been in the Congress of the United States.
  Now you can attribute that to all sorts of things, but I attribute it 
to the fact that Democrats have taken the position we ought to pay for 
what we buy and we ought to have responsible budgets. The Republicans 
have not passed a budget except for once in an election year. If we 
pass this one, as surely I hope we will, it will be a precedent.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the chairman of the Budget 
Committee, John Spratt. I also want to congratulate the ranking member, 
who I don't see on the floor, but who is a responsible Member of this 
body. I disagree with him on some things but he engages in the debate 
in a responsible way.
  I want to thank the members of the Blue Dog Coalition as well for 
their work, patience, and commitment to passing this budget conference 
report. This is the first budget adopted in an election year since 
2000, the last time we were before this administration, and it is a 
signal accomplishment of this Congress and a demonstration of our 
ability to govern effectively.
  This conference report is the continuation of the Democratic 
majority's effort to turn away from this administration's failed 
policies. In fact, the most reckless fiscal policies in the history of 
our Nation.
  As the father of three grandchildren and as the grandfather of a 
great-grandchild, I am extraordinarily concerned about that. We have 
two young women sitting next to my colleague and friend, Congressman 
Rogers. I don't know whether they are grandchildren. They are 
grandchildren. We have put those young children who sit here, these 
beautiful young women, deeply into debt. This budget is about keeping 
them out of further debt.
  Let's remember, President Bush and the former Republican majorities 
in Congress turned a projected budget surplus of $5.6 trillion, and was 
that a real surplus? It was not. It was a projection for 10 years. 
Nobody really knows what's going to happen in 10 years. But it was a 
projected surplus of $5.6 trillion, on which the Bush administration 
relied, and in reliance on it, did some things that were 
extraordinarily irresponsible.
  We are now more than $3 trillion in additional debt in just 6 years. 
We went from $5.9 trillion of debt to now $9.8 trillion. Almost $4 
trillion, which is to say an 80 percent increase in the indebtedness of 
this Nation in 84 months while the Republicans enjoyed 6 years of 
hegemony. Total, absolute control.
  Yet some of our Republican friends complain, audaciously so, that 
this budget conference report includes an increase in the debt limit. 
How soon

[[Page H4996]]

they forget. They forget or, more accurately, they deliberately ignore 
that they increased the debt limit four times in 5 years. Under Bill 
Clinton's Presidency, during his last 4 years the debt was increased 
not once. Not once. The debt limit increase included in this conference 
report is a direct result, a direct and predictable result of the 
fiscally irresponsible, failed policies of the Republican party, 
policies that could not be changed overnight.
  Nevertheless, congressional Democrats have proposed a fiscally 
responsible conference report that returns our Federal budget to 
balance by 2012 and abides by the pay-as-you-go budget rules that we 
reinstated in January, 2007, which were abandoned in 2001. Why? Because 
you could not and did not have the courage to pay for your tax cuts.
  The only way you could pass your reduction of revenues was to waive 
PAYGO because you did not have the courage of convictions, nor the 
votes of your conference to cut spending by the amount you cut revenue. 
To-wit: Exploding debt.
  It's a budget that meets the critical needs of our people, making 
investments to keep America safe, to boost economic growth, and create 
jobs, to provide tax relief, and to help families struggling in the 
Bush economy. This budget matches the President's request for defense, 
while shifting funds to high priorities, such as nuclear 
nonproliferation programs. It increases homeland security funding over 
the President's request. And it rejects the President's proposed cuts 
to first responder-programs, who, in any emergency caused by terrorists 
or by natural events, will be the first responders.
  It increases funding for veterans health care by $3.7 billion, 
increases funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency 
initiatives so we can become energy independent, as well as funding for 
scientific innovation, education, training and social services to grow 
our economy, create jobs and make the lives of our people better.
  Furthermore, it accommodates an immediate and long-term fix to the 
alternative minimum tax and additional middle class tax relief. Middle 
class tax relief in this budget.
  Finally, this conference report rejects the President's harmful cuts 
to Medicare and Medicaid, to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 
Program, State and local law enforcement programs, such as COPS, and to 
Environmental Protection Agency grants to protect public health. It 
also rejects the President's proposal to increase fees for veterans and 
military retirees by $18 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, the Democrat majorities in this Congress inherited a 
fiscal debacle last year. Today, through this budget conference report, 
we continue to address it and to meet the critical priorities of the 
American people.
  This is a budget that we can be proud of. I urge all of my colleagues 
to vote for fiscal responsibility, vote for the appropriate priorities 
for our country, vote for a brighter future for our children, vote for 
the conference report.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds.
  I listened very carefully to the distinguished majority leader, who 
spoke eloquently on deficit spending. He should know much about it 
since, under his budget, the Federal Government's long-term financial 
obligations grew by $2.5 trillion last year, and we now have the single 
largest increase in the national debt.
  As I listened carefully to the majority leader, I heard him say much. 
What I did not hear him deny was that his budget included the single 
largest tax increase in American history.
  Mr. HOYER. Will my friend yield?
  Mr. HENSARLING. I would be happy to yield.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman's time has expired.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Perhaps the distinguished majority leader could get 
some additional time on his side.
  At this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman 
from Indiana (Mr. Pence).
  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank Mr. Hensarling 
and the ranking member of the Budget Committee for their yeoman's work 
on the Republican alternative. I also want to express my admiration for 
the chairman of the Budget Committee, who I believe to be a sincere man 
and effective legislator.
  I must say that I do love following the distinguished majority leader 
to the floor. He is, as has been said, an eloquent and effective 
champion for the Democrat agenda in Congress. But the American people 
deserve to know this budget puts that agenda in high relief. It is more 
taxes, more spending, no entitlement reform, and pork barrel spending 
as usual.
  Now let me say Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we were beset by 
terrible tornadoes. I will be heading back home tomorrow after we 
finish up business. A military base in my district, 40 buildings 
compromised, some destroyed; dozens of homes destroyed and compromised 
through Rush County and Shelby County.
  But you know what? I know what Hoosiers are doing today. I know what 
they are doing. They are grabbing a shovel, they are rolling their 
sleeves up. Some have been out all night long sacrificially coming 
alongside their neighbors in a community in crisis and they are 
cleaning up the mess.
  I want to suggest, Mr. Speaker, that we are facing a fiscal crisis in 
this Nation, and it is a mess of extraordinary proportions: $9.3 
billion in national debt, $43 trillion in unfunded obligation in Social 
Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
  Let me say to the distinguished chairman of this committee: There is 
plenty of blame to go around. I do not take issue with the gentleman's 
characterization that the national debt grew precipitously under 
Republican control. Pork barrel spending grew precipitously under 
Republican control. But that is no excuse. Continuing the argument and 
the blame game is no excuse for not dealing with the problem in the way 
that the American people sit down and solve problems, and that is by 
confronting them head-on and coming together with solutions.
  The Democrat budget here is not the solution. More spending, more 
taxes, pork barrel spending as usual, and not one penny of entitlement 
reform ignores the problem. It doesn't deal with the problem.
  Mr. Speaker, the Republicans in Congress offered an alternative this 
year that would face this fiscal crisis head on. The American people 
deserve to know the Democrat budget is not the answer.

                              {time}  1200

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished 
chairman of our caucus, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel).
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, to my two former speakers on the Republican 
side, one who described the Republican stewardship as ``terrible,'' the 
one thing you can say after 6 years of Republican rule with President 
Bush is that we will forever be in your debt.
  You are right. $3.8 trillion in new debt under your stewardship, and 
so we are always going to be in your debt. And I just can't you thank 
you enough on behalf of the American people, because the reason you 
would use the adjective ``terrible'' to describe your record is for the 
fiscal mess you left. And when you describe $9.8 trillion in debt, 
don't act like, ``look mom, no hands.'' You had something to do with 
it, 6 years of your control.
  This budget is a beginning, because what is a budget? It is a 
blueprint for the future. And, yes, we will make it. President Kennedy 
once said, ``to govern is to choose.'' We are making choices here. We 
are preserving middle class tax cuts and beginning to put our fiscal 
house in order and investing in education, health care and technology 
to start to grow the economy back. That works for middle class 
families.
  Under your stewardship, middle class household income shrunk by 
$1,100. Costs for education, health care and energy went up. This is 
about turning the country around and changing the direction of this 
country.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pastor). The Chair would remind Members 
to please address their remarks to the Chair.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is recognized for 4 minutes.
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, what this is all about is 
priorities, that

[[Page H4997]]

is what budgets are, and when you take a look the priorities in this 
budget, it is a huge missed opportunity.
  I started the beginning of this debate by complimenting the 
distinguished gentleman from South Carolina for bringing a budget to 
conclusion, and I really sincerely mean that. I am from Wisconsin. I 
didn't really know what the definition of a ``distinguished southern 
gentleman'' is. I do now know by serving with John Spratt, and he 
deserves credit for bringing a budget resolution to the floor in an 
election year, which is something that is not often done around here. 
So I sincerely want to compliment the gentleman for that.
  But what about the budget we have here being brought to the floor? I 
see some young people in the audience here, some young people in the 
well here. I have some young people in my family. I have a daughter who 
is 6, a son who is 5, and a son who is 3 years old, and by the time my 
three kids are exactly my age, this Federal Government will be doubling 
their taxes.
  The pathway that we are on right now with the unsustainable fiscal 
crisis in this country is one in which, instead of taxing 18.3 cents 
out of every dollar to pay for the Federal Government, which is what we 
have been doing for the last 40 years, the next generation, my 
children's generation, when they are raising their kids will be paying 
40 cents out of every dollar just to pay for this Federal Government.
  We know for a fact that we are shackling the next generation with a 
mountain of debt and taxes that is unsustainable. We are bequeathing 
this to the next generation, unless we fix this, unless we step up as 
every preceding generation has done in this country and make things 
better.
  What does this budget do? Not only in a time of economic recession, 
not only in a time of $4 gas prices, not only in a time where the 
grocery bill is twice as high as it was last year, we are raising taxes 
across-the-board the most we have ever raised them before, taxes on 
marriage, taxes on having children, taxes on making money, taxes on 
starting small businesses, taxes on pensions, taxes on retirement. This 
budget does that. But what is even worse than that is that this budget 
proposes to increase this debt, this legacy of debt to our children and 
our grandchildren, by $14 trillion for just two programs alone. It is 
unconscionable.
  Both parties lay blame, but should claim responsibility for getting 
us to where we are. I am not simply saying here that Republicans have 
always been pristine and Democrats have always been bad. We got into 
this together. We are going to have to get out of this together. The 
problem is, this is no way to go. We shouldn't be doing this to our 
grandchildren, to our children, to the ``X Generation.''
  That is what this budget does, the largest tax increase in American 
history, which is going to hurt our economy even further and cost jobs. 
When you raise taxes, you lower jobs. When you raise taxes, you take 
money out of paychecks. You hurt families. You don't give them the 
ability to get going, to succeed. Their paychecks don't get stretched 
farther, they get stretched shorter.
  And when you consign the next generation by simply walking away from 
the problem and saying to our kids and our grandkids, instead of giving 
you a $40 trillion debt for Medicare and Social Security, we are going 
to give you a $54 trillion debt for Medicare and Social Security, each 
household today, if we want just these two programs to work, would have 
to set aside $353,000. What this budget says is each household will 
have to set aside $474,000.
  We are abdicating leadership in this budget. It is wrong. What we 
need to do is come together, both sides, recognize this problem, and 
realize that the way to prosperity in this country is not to tax our 
way out of this problem; it is to address this spending problem in this 
House, address the culture of earmarks, address the spending that we 
have here and get it under control so that the next generation can be 
better off.
  That is what my folks told me the legacy of this country is all 
about. Each generation rises to the challenges in this country and 
leaves the next generation better off. Well, what we are doing with 
this budget is we are severing that legacy. We know for a fact, it is 
guaranteed, it is statistically a truism by all sides of the aisle, we 
are going to sever that legacy and we are going to give the next 
generation an inferior standard of living, unless we defeat this 
budget.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, to close the debate, I now yield the balance 
of our time to our distinguished Speaker, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi).
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman, the 
Chair of the Budget Committee, for yielding, and I thank him for 
bringing this excellent document to the floor, a budget which will help 
us protect our country, grow our economy, give middle income tax cuts, 
and do so in a fiscally sound way.
  Mr. Speaker, as we all know, our budget is a statement of our 
national values. At least it should be. Now for the first time in our 
New Direction Congress, last year and this year, for 2 years straight, 
we have put forth a budget resolution, the first time a budget 
resolution has been put forth in an election year by the Congress since 
the Republicans took over. Now the Democrats are in charge and we have 
had 2 years of responsible budgeting.
  I listened with interest to our colleagues and their views on this 
budget. They certainly are entitled to their opinion, but they are not 
entitled to their own set of facts. I want to just quote from some of 
the responsible independent budget organizations, some of them 
conservative-leaning organizations, when it comes to their false claim 
about this budget increasing taxes.
  The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says, ``The conference 
agreement does not raise taxes.''
  The Hamilton Project of the Brookings Institution says very clearly, 
``The budget would not raise taxes.'' Indeed, your budget, Mr. Spratt, 
indicates that one of your priorities is making up-front cuts in taxes 
for alternative minimum tax relief that ultimately would be paid for 
without increasing the budget deficit.
  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says, ``Some claim that 
the budget plan of the conferees would constitute `the largest tax 
increase in history.' This claim is inaccurate. This year's budget plan 
does not include a tax increase. It actually calls for a $340 billion 
reduction in revenues.''
  The problem that our friends on the Republican side have is that 
these tax cuts are for the middle class, not just for their friends in 
the upper 1 percent bracket. These tax cuts address the marriage 
penalty, address the 10 percent tax bracket, address the child tax 
credit. The middle class and those who aspire to it benefit from this 
budget.
  This is a fiscally sound budget, and for that we are all in Mr. 
Spratt's debt. This budget has to be balanced in terms of its spending 
and its priorities, and, indeed, it is a statement of our values.
  I would like to see anyone in this room who supports veterans say 
they cannot support the budget provisions in this legislation. In this 
bill, for our veterans it provides an additional $3.7 billion for 
veterans health care and services, which is why this budget has the 
strong support of major veterans groups.
  When it comes to energy, an issue of major concern to households 
across America, this budget provides $7.7 billion for renewable energy, 
energy efficiency and other energy initiatives, which is $2.7 billion 
more than just last year.
  In innovation, let's stop having these stale debates about trade or 
no trade. Let's educate, innovate, compete and prevail in the global 
marketplace. This budget provides nearly $2 billion to fully 
accommodate the commitments made in the America COMPETES Act, which was 
voted on by an overwhelming number of Republicans to give us a huge 
vote in the Congress and signed by the President. This is to spur 
innovation and invest in basic scientific innovation.
  Again, by setting the right priorities and making tough choices, our 
budget also cuts taxes again for the middle class and those aspiring to 
it and protects 20 million households from the alternative minimum tax.
  In any year, creating a budget is a difficult challenge. In an 
election year, it is even more challenging, because of all of the 
competing priorities that

[[Page H4998]]

want to be in the budget. But this year we have a budget that is in 
balance in terms of its values and is in balance in terms of the track 
that it puts us on.
  Thank you, Mr. Spratt, for putting us on track, with no deficit, for 
the budget to be in balance by 2012. It is fully compliant with pay-as-
you-go rules. It is a budget, again, of the statement of our values, 
fiscally responsible, pay-as-you-go. It has tremendous merit, and it 
should have the support of every person in this body.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote on the budget.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I am deeply disappointed that the FY 2009 
budget resolution conference report represents another missed 
opportunity to address the financial crisis facing our nation. Focusing 
on these economic challenges, reining in entitlement spending, and 
curbing Congress's appetite for autopilot spending will take strong 
bipartisan commitment from both sides of the aisle. Our ``long-term'' 
spending crisis has arrived, and our children and grandchildren will 
bear the burden if Congress does not act.
  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was at the heart of 
the German resistance against Nazism, said, ``The ultimate test of a 
moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children.''
  This Congress is leaving the next generation saddled with $54 
trillion in unfunded liabilities and $9 trillion in debt, $1 trillion 
of which is held by the Chinese. They also face potential loss of our 
country's triple-A bond rating--as early as 2012, according to Standard 
& Poor's, or by 2018, according to Moody's Investors Service. This is 
an economic issue, but also a moral and generational issue.
  Representative Jim Cooper and I have been working together with over 
100 cosponsors on a solution that would put everything--entitlements 
and tax policy--on the table in order to turn things around. The 
Cooper-Wolf SAFE Act would create a bipartisan entitlement review 
commission, culminating in a required up or down vote by Congress on a 
legislative proposal born from the commission's work. Mandating action 
is what makes the SAFE Commission unique.
  We had the opportunity in this year's budget process to take the 
initial steps to get our financial house in order. But again this 
budget cycle, Congress is choosing to look the other way. I am hopeful 
that my colleagues will recognize that the budget resolution makes 
little progress on this pressing issue and join our efforts with the 
SAFE Commission.
  When educating his colleagues in the British Parliament about the 
horrors of the slave trade in 1789, William Wilberforce said, ``Having 
heard all this you may choose to look the other way, but you can never 
again say that you did not know.''
  Not one member of the 110th Congress can say they don't know about 
the category 5 storm off our shores, which former Comptroller General 
David Walker says could result in a ``tsunami of spending and debt that 
could swamp our ship of state.''
  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of 2009 Budget 
Conference Report. I know many Members here today shared with me the 
opinion that the President's proposed budget was ``dead on arrival.'' 
This conference agreement upholds that opinion and goes a step further 
by rejecting many of the proposed cuts the President suggested in 
February including his proposal to gut billions of dollars from 
Medicare and Medicaid.
  For the last two years the House has held true to its commitment to 
American families by increasing funding for domestic priorities such as 
energy assistance program, state and local law enforcement programs, 
education, among many others. And while it might be hard for this 
administration to grasp, this Congress has proposed increases in 
funding for domestic priorities without increasing our deficit. In 
fact, this conference agreement will balance the budget by 2012 and 
provide a surplus of $22 billion in 2012 and $10 billion in 2013.
  What I am most pleased about is the commitment this conference 
agreement makes to areas that are of the most importance to me--
Medicare, Medicaid, education, job-training and Low Income Home Energy 
Assistance Program, among many others.
  Our veterans, many of whom have served multiple tours in Iraq and 
Afghanistan, will benefit from this budget through a $3.7 billion 
increase in funding. This is a sharp contrast from what President Bush 
originally proposed--$18 billion in new fees over five years. These men 
and women have served our country honorably and with dedication and 
under no circumstances do they deserve to come home to a fee from our 
government.
  This budget agreement also strives to address rising energy costs. 
Just this month gas in Romulus, Michigan, located in the 15th District, 
hit $4 gallon. The ever rising cost of fuel in our country is becoming 
more and more unmanageable for our families. This budget agreement 
increases funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency 
initiatives, while also providing full funding for the Low Income Home 
Energy Assistance Program which has helped numerous families heat their 
homes through the winter and cool their homes during the summer. 
Without a doubt this does not solve our energy problems, however, it 
does help families whose pocketbooks are already stretched thin.
  More importantly, this conference report will provide increased 
funding that will help prepare our workers to compete in the global 
marketplace. The America COMPETES Act, which I strongly supported, 
created a commitment to increase training and funding for math and 
science education and research. This legislation upholds that 
commitment. It also increases funding for education that will help to 
address the rising costs of college tuition and the rigorous standards 
of No Child Left Behind. A successful workforce depends on access to 
quality education and this legislation will help our constituents with 
that.
  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.
  I am again proud to say that this budget proposal will 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 one million Michigan residents. 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 proposed by the President. I have long said 
that this administration neglects our families and his proposal to cut 
funding from two of our most important healthcare programs is ill-
advised. This Congress will not stand for it and this budget will not 
stand for it.
  Mr. Speaker, I know that the budget process is never easy; however, I 
stand in support of today's conference report with great pleasure. Not 
only am I pleased that this is the last budget that this Congress will 
work on with this administration, but I am also pleased that once again 
Congress has shown that it will not rubberstamp the priorities of this 
administration.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of the S. Con. 
Res. 70, the conference report to the FY 2009 Budget.
  Every day, new reports suggest our economy is slowing. It is 
imperative that the Congress help Americans during these tough economic 
times. I am supportive of the Democratic budget because it will expand 
health care for needy Americans, provide tax relief for the middle 
class, strengthen safety net programs, and reject the President's 
draconian funding cuts. In effect, S. Con. Res 70 will lead America in 
a new direction.
  The Bush budget slashes a half trillion dollars from Medicare and 
Medicaid over the next decade. The Democratic budget rejects the 
President's proposed cuts to health care, and instead provides program 
improvements to State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Last 
year, the President twice vetoed legislation that would have expanded 
this essential program. S. Con. Res. 70 will provide $50 billion for 
SCHIP, which significantly reduces the number of uninsured children. 
The Democratic budget further helps Americans with the skyrocketing 
cost of health care by investments in health information technology and 
research grants in medical technology.
  The Democratic budget provides tax breaks for low- and middle-income 
families, including an extension of the child tax credit, marriage 
penalty relief, extension of the 10% individual income tax bracket and 
an extension of the deduction for state and local sales taxes. S. Con. 
Res. 70 will also stop the Alternative Minimum Tax from raising taxes 
on more than 20 million middle-class tax payers.
  In this era of globalization, it is crucial that we give our youth 
the best possible education without burdening them with insurmountable 
debt. The Bush budget would eliminate important educational programs 
such as the Thurgood Marshall Legal education, Perkins Loans 
Cancellations, Mental Health Integration and Reading is Fundamental. In 
contrast, the Democratic budget provides significant increases to vital 
programs in education, job training, and social service programs.
  Mr. Speaker, my home state of Michigan is facing serious economic 
challenges, in part

[[Page H4999]]

due to the President's failed policies. The Democratic budget will 
offer working families a chance at the American dream. I urge my 
colleagues to support the resolution.
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, a budget is a moral document that demonstrates 
our values and priorities. I want to congratulate Chairman Spratt for 
again bringing forth a budget that represents values of which we can be 
proud. This budget would make real investments in education, hometown 
security, veterans' programs, healthcare, and research and development 
while bringing the budget back to surplus by 2012.
  I am pleased that this Fiscal Year 2009 budget continues to follow 
the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) principle that the House restored at the 
start of the 110th Congress. This ensures that every new dollar of 
spending is offset and will not worsen the deficit. Although the budget 
resolution does not set the taxes or appropriation money, it does lay 
out the plan for the coming years to spend money and to raise revenues.
  The budget would require the Ways and Means Committee to find the 
savings required to prevent millions of new Americans from having to 
pay the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which has slowly morphed into a 
middle-class tax hike. More families in Central New Jersey are affected 
by the AMT than anywhere else in the country. Last year, Congress 
prevented nearly 23 million Americans, including more than 88,000 in 
the 12th Congressional District, from paying the AMT in 2008. Without 
action on this issue even more Americans would be affected by the AMT 
in the future.
  With the price of oil now over $130 a barrel, this budget would make 
a significant investment in our Nation's energy future by providing 
$7.7 billion for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other energy 
programs. This is $2.8 billion--or 55 percent--more than the Fiscal 
Year 2008 budget. In doing so, the budget would reject the President's 
budget cuts to energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, and 
instead invest $2 billion in new programs to create ``green collar 
jobs.''
  Mr. Speaker, this budget honors our commitment to our Nation's 
children by investing in education. The budget would provide $8.4 
billion above the President's request--new funding that could support 
vital programs like Head Start, special education, school improvement 
programs, and Title 1. The budget also would help make college more 
affordable and accessible for students in New Jersey and throughout the 
country by increasing funding that could support Pell grants, 
Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, and programs that broaden 
access to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
  Facing difficult and uncertain economic times, this budget would 
invest in job creation and job training. In addition to investing in 
programs to create ``green collar jobs,'' we reject the President's 
cuts to Community Development Block Grants and his proposal to 
eliminate four job training programs. We also look to a long-term 
economic growth strategy, one that invests in science and research and 
development. This budget would support our Innovation Agenda by 
increasing funding for the America COMPETES Act, which authorized 
robust funding for research at the National Science Foundation and the 
Department of Energy's Office of Science.

  Our budget also addresses the fact that our Nation has more Americans 
than ever living without health insurance, including over nine million 
children. We would include funding to provide up to $50 billion for 
children's health insurance. This would help insure millions of 
children. Likewise, our budget recognizes the importance of Medicaid 
and Medicare and would reject the President's harmful proposal to cut 
Medicaid by $94 billion and Medicare by $479 billion over ten years.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm proud of this budget's commitment to making America 
more safe and secure. Notably, we would provide additional funding to 
implement the 9/11 commission recommendations, including required 100 
percent screening for shipping and air cargo. We would also place a 
greater emphasis on funding nuclear nonproliferation programs, one of 
the most severe threats to our security.
  Additionally, we would restore funding for vital first responder 
programs, including the State Homeland Security Grant Program (cut $705 
million), Firefighter Assistance Grants (cut $463 million), Byrne 
Justice Assistance Grants (eliminated all formula funding), and COPS 
(cut $599 million).
  This budget continues our commitment to fully fund veterans' health 
care by providing $48.2 billion for 2009, which is $4.9 billion (11.4 
percent) more than the 2008 level. In fact, it would provide $3.3 
billion more than the President's budget for 2009 and $39 billion more 
over five years. Consistent with past practice, the President's budget 
actually cuts funding after the first year. This budget also would 
allow the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to treat 5.8 million 
patients in 2009, including an estimated 333,275 Iraq and Afghanistan 
war veterans, many of whom suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, 
traumatic brain injuries, or blast-related injuries. Additionally, the 
budget rejects the health care fee increases imposed by the President's 
budget, which total $2.3 billion over five years, including a new 
enrollment fee and pharmaceutical co-payment increases. Finally, this 
budget increases funding to speed disability claims processing, so that 
VA can continue to reduce its backlog.
  I would like to recognize the budget's impact on voting reform. 
Implementing a nationwide requirement for independently auditable, and 
audited, vote counts is a priority of mine. As such, I was deeply 
disappointed that the President's budget made no request for funding 
under Title II of the Help America Vote Act. Approximately $560 million 
of the funding authorized under that Title remains unappropriated, and 
jurisdictions across the country could use that funding to improve the 
accuracy, integrity and security of their voting systems, as well as 
improve the administration of elections generally. Additionally, I was 
disappointed to see that the President requested only half of what 
remains authorized to fund disability access grants to ensure polling 
place accessibility. As we continue to debate the budget, we should 
address these budget shortfalls.
  Mr. Speaker, this budget reflects values for which we can be proud. 
We reject cuts to important healthcare, education, veterans, and 
national security programs while maintaining our commitment to fiscal 
responsibility. By adopting this budget and supporting the designated 
funding levels throughout the appropriations process, we would be 
investing in priorities important to our future.
  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of 
Senate Concurrent Resolution 70, the Fiscal Year 2009 budget 
resolution.
  I want to commend Chairman Spratt, Ranking Member Ryan, as well as 
Senators Conrad and Gregg, for their outstanding work in fashioning a 
fiscally responsible budget that will improve our Nation's flagging 
economy and address vital funding priorities.
  Many people in Georgia and across the Nation are struggling in these 
difficult times.
  They are struggling with skyrocketing energy costs, especially the 
high gasoline prices. In some parts of the Georgia's Second 
Congressional District, the price of a gallon of gas is over four 
dollars. It is having a ripple effect in many if not all sectors of the 
economy.
  They also are struggling with the rising cost of health care and 
education. It is especially troubling to me why programs which help 
low- and middle-income Americans--especially veterans--afford medical 
care and a college education have been placed on the chopping block by 
our President over the last 7 years.
  They are struggling with the weakening housing market. As many as two 
million Americans may see their mortgage rates increase in the next two 
years, with many of them losing their homes as a result of bad lending 
practices. Tens of millions of homeowners could see the value of their 
homes--their primary investment--drop in value as well.
  America needs to put its fiscal house in order if it wants to retain 
its competitive edge and remain strong into the future.
  I am pleased that the Fiscal Year 2009 budget resolution rejects the 
President's harmful discretionary spending cuts and makes important 
investments in veterans' health care, Medicare and Medicaid, affordable 
housing, education initiatives, our Nation's transportation 
infrastructure, as well as renewable energy and energy efficiency 
programs.
  As a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, I am especially glad that the 
budget resolution brings the budget into balance by 2012 and fully 
complies with the PAYGO rule. It is difficult to believe that over the 
last 7 years we have gone from a $5.6 trillion surplus to a $3.2 
trillion deficit. Our gross Federal debt is approaching $10 trillion 
dollars--the highest it has ever been in the Nation's history. The 
amount of this debt that is held by other countries such as China, 
Japan, and the OPEC nations also has more than doubled since the Bush 
administration took office in January 2001.
  The budget resolution demonstrates that it is possible to fund vital 
programs, provide middle-income tax relief, eliminate the deficit over 
the next 5 years, pay down the national debt, and promote economic 
growth--all in a fiscally responsible manner. I strongly support this 
conference agreement, and I urge my colleagues to approve it.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of the 
2009 Budget Resolution. This legislation strongly reflects the values 
of Oregonians and Americans across our country and I urge my colleagues 
to pass the bill.
  Today I am especially proud to be a member of the Budget Committee. 
It is worth noting that this is the first budget passed in an election 
year since 1998. The new Democratic majority has shown that they are 
committed to passing a budget despite an uncooperative

[[Page H5000]]

President. Today's budget agreement is a balanced budget with balanced 
priorities. We have rejected the President's misguided cuts to programs 
that serve as a safety net for our most vulnerable citizens; cuts to 
Medicare, Medicaid, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and 
the Community Development Block Grants.
  This budget also recognizes that we must strengthen our middle class, 
a group that has suffered tremendously over the last 7 years. The 
budget provides fiscally responsible, deficit-neutral middle income tax 
relief; including keeping 20 million middle-income households from 
being hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax. It also extends the child tax 
credit, marriage penalty relief, and the 10 percent individual income 
tax bracket.
  However, tax relief will do little without reinvestment in the 
priorities which strengthen our Nation and its citizens. Building our 
Nation must include a strong commitment to physical infrastructure, 
human capital, and innovation to keep us competitive globally. This 
budget does all these things. Recognizing that our current crumbling 
infrastructure is both structurally unsafe and hindering growth of our 
economy, the 2009 Budget includes an Infrastructure Reinvestment 
Reserve Fund to accommodate legislation that would provide robust 
Federal investment in projects such as rail, bridges, transit, ports, 
and more. The budget invests in our human capital both by creating a 
Higher Education Reserve Fund to make college more affordable for 
families, and by including funding for investment in renewable and 
energy efficient technologies to train workers in rapidly expanding 
``green collar'' jobs. These investments, along with increased funding 
for the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health 
keep our Nation on the cutting edge and maintain our position as a 
global leader.
  Today's budget reflects America's priorities in a fiscally 
responsible way and brings our budget back into balance by 2012, while 
abiding by pay-as-you go rules. I strongly urge my colleagues to join 
me today in supporting and passing the 2009 Budget Conference 
Agreement.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Conference 
Report to accompany S. Con. Res. 70, Concurrent Resolution on the 
Budget for Fiscal Year 2009. This Budget Resolution strengthens our 
economy, restores fiscal discipline, and makes America safer.
  A budget is a statement of our priorities. As the only former State 
schools chief serving in Congress, I am particularly pleased about this 
measure's provisions for education and innovation. This resolution 
rejects the President's proposed education cuts and instead provides 
greater investment in our Nation's schools, including the school 
construction bonds Chairman Rangel and I have been working on for 
nearly a decade and increased Impact Aid for federally impacted local 
public schools.
  As a Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, I am pleased that 
after 7 years of this administration failing to address fully some of 
our most pressing security needs, this budget provides the necessary 
resources to meet critical threats to the Nation. Specifically, this 
budget resolution rejects the President's proposed cuts to critical 
State and local law enforcement initiatives, including the State 
Criminal Alien Assistance Program, Byrne Grants, and the COPS 
initiative. I strongly believe that homeland security starts with 
hometown security and I am pleased that this resolution rejects the 
President's misguided cuts.
  I am also pleased to report that the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget 
Resolution also makes our Nation's veterans a top priority. This budget 
is strongly supported by all the major veterans organizations because 
it provides $3.3 billion more than the President's proposed budget for 
2009 and $39 billion more over 5 years. This budget continues our 
commitment to fully fund veterans' health care by providing an 11 
percent increase from last year. This resolution also rejects health 
care fees and TRICARE enrollment fee increases and includes additional 
funding to speed the veterans' disability claims process. I am proud to 
represent thousands of veterans in North Carolina's Second 
Congressional District, and they deserve a budget that reflects the 
importance of the sacrifice they have made in serving our country.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I have become increasingly concerned about the 
legacy of debt this administration is passing on to future generations. 
The $5.6 trillion projected surplus that the administration inherited 
when it took office has been transformed into a $3.2 trillion deficit. 
More than 80 cents of every dollar of new debt since 2001 is owed to 
foreign investors, including foreign governments. The high level of 
indebtedness to foreign investors heightens the American economy's 
exposure to potential instability or even from financial threat from 
unfriendly foreign governments, and places additional burdens on our 
children and grandchildren. It is a massively irresponsibe tax on 
posterity.
  However, this Budget Resolution is a positive step in restoring 
fiscal responsibility. Using realistic Congressional Budget Office 
estimates, this budget reaches balance in 2012, remains in balance in 
2013, and posts smaller deficits than the President's proposed budget 
for the next 3 years. In addition, this budget continues the House of 
Representatives' emphasis on fiscal discipline by following the pay-as-
you-go rule.
  On behalf of North Carolina's children and working families, I 
support the Budget Conference Report for Fiscal Year 2009 and urge my 
colleagues to join me.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I support this conference report 
and urge its approval.
  It deserves support for many reasons, beginning with its very 
existence--if it is approved we will have a final budget resolution in 
an election year for the first time for nearly a decade.
  To govern is to choose, and one of the most basic responsibilities 
for those who want to be entrusted with positions of leadership is to 
make hard choices. This year, Chairman Spratt and his Budget Act 
colleagues--and their counterparts in the Senate--have demonstrated 
real leadership and have reached agreement on a conference report that 
will enable us to make the choices needed to keep us on a responsible 
budgetary path.
  This conference report will make it possible for us to provide tax 
relief for the middle class; make needed investments in energy, 
education, innovation, and infrastructure; and to properly support our 
troops and veterans. And it does so while maintaining fiscal 
responsibility, because it complies with a strong pay-as-you-go rule 
and makes it possible to return the budget to surplus in 2012 and 2013, 
without raising taxes.
  One of its best features, in my opinion, is the way it encourages 
investment in new businesses and industries that focus on renewable 
energy, clean fuel technology, and energy efficiency. This will create 
jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign energy, strengthen the economy, 
and ultimately help with high energy costs for consumers.
  It also rejects the President's budget cuts to energy programs by 
providing for significant increases in programs such as weatherization 
assistance, renewable energy, and energy efficiency; and includes a 
deficit-neutral reserve fund for energy legislation.
  It also will enable us to continue working to retain and expand a 
skilled, technologically literate workforce and a strong research and 
development base. It provides for increasing funding for the Department 
of Education, and the National Institutes of Health. It also allows for 
more funding for science, space, and technology programs.
  In addition, it sets the stage for much-needed investment in our 
nation's infrastructure, including more than President Bush has 
proposed for discretionary transportation accounts as well as full 
funding of Highway and Transit programs as authorized in the highway 
bill and funding for the Airport Improvement Program. All these are 
very important for Colorado, where the pressures of population growth 
have put severe strains on our highways, roads, and airports.
  As a Member of the Armed Services Committee, I am particularly glad 
to be able. to support the conference report because it will enable us 
to provide the funding we need for national defense and to address the 
most critical threats facing our nation. It places a higher priority 
than the President's budget on programs such as Cooperative Threat 
Reduction and other nuclear nonproliferation programs, and on improving 
the quality of life for our troops and their families.
  The conference report also recognized the need for higher funding 
levels for homeland security while rejecting the President's proposed 
cuts in law enforcement, the COPS program, firefighters, and other 
first responders.
  And it takes an important step to help veterans get the quality 
health care they need and deserve by providing $3.3 billion more in 
discretionary funding for 2009 than the President's budget and $39 
billion more over five years for veterans programs.
  Similarly, it strengthens the safety net for those families most in 
need, allowing for more funding for home energy assistance (LIHEAP), 
for children's health, for nutrition assistance for women, infants, and 
children and for the Social Services Block Grant. And it accommodates 
legislation to reauthorize and expand the trade adjustment assistance 
program and to improve unemployment insurance.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that despite claims to 
the contrary, the conference report does not include any tax 
increases--in fact, it supports significant tax relief, including 
continued marriage penalty relief, child tax credit, and the 10 percent 
bracket, and provides for an additional year of tax relief for more 
than 20 million Americans who would otherwise be subjected to the 
Alternative Minimum Tax.
  Nonetheless, some of our colleagues will object that it does not 
provide for making permanent all the tax cuts enacted since the Bush 
Administration took office. I supported

[[Page H5001]]

some of those cuts--including the 10 percent tax bracket, the increased 
child credit, and relief from the marriage penalty--all of which should 
be made permanent, but this conference report is not the place for an 
all-or-nothing approach to the entire list. We will have time later to 
consider which of the rest of President Bush's tax cuts should be 
extended.
  Consistent with that more responsible approach, this conference 
report allows for only a small increase in revenues above the levels 
assumed in the President's budget--an increase that can be accomplished 
through closing loopholes that enable some corporations and affluent 
taxpayers to take advantage of offshore tax havens, and by doing a 
better job of collecting taxes that are already due under current law.
  Mr. Speaker, seven years of fiscal irresponsibility have left a 
legacy of deficits and debt that it will take time and work to 
overcome. But the sooner we begin, the sooner we will complete the job 
of restoring fiscal responsibility and reordering our national 
priorities--and now is the time to take an essential step forward by 
approving this conference report.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the conference report on 
the fiscal year (FY) 2009 Budget Resolution recognizes the importance 
of meeting our nation's infrastructure investment needs. Adequate 
investment in our transportation and other public infrastructure is 
critical to our nation's economic growth, our competitiveness in the 
world marketplace, and the quality of life in our communities. Despite 
the importance of these investments, many of our nation's 
infrastructure needs are going unmet.
  Rather than addressing these unmet needs, the administration's FY 
2009 budget proposed to cut virtually every infrastructure investment 
program within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, including highways, public transit, airports, Amtrak, 
wastewater treatment, and water resources development.
  In contrast to the harmful cuts proposed by the administration, the 
conference report before us today fully funds highway, transit, and 
highway safety programs at the levels originally authorized in the 
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A 
Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The conference report rejects both the 
negative $1 billion adjustment for Revenue Aligned Budget Authority, 
and the administration's proposal to cut highway and transit funding by 
an additional $1 billion below the authorized levels, which would be 
detrimental to short-term economic stimulus efforts, as well as long-
term economic growth.
  For the Airport Improvement Program (AlP), the conference report 
rejects the $765 million cut proposed by the administration, and 
instead provides the full amounts authorized in the FAA Reauthorization 
Act of 2007 (H.R. 2881), as approved by the House last year. 
Specifically, the conference agreement allocates $3.8 billion for AlP 
in FY 2008, increasing to $3.9 billion in FY 2009, and to $4.1 billion 
by FY 2011. This funding will allow the AlP program to keep pace with 
inflationary cost increases, and begin to address the investment gap in 
airport safety and capacity needs.
  For Amtrak, the conference report rejects the $525 million cut 
proposed by the administration, which would essentially shut-down our 
national passenger rail system, and instead increases funding to meet 
the costs of Amtrak's new labor agreement, pursuant to Presidential 
Emergency Board 242.
  For environmental infrastructure, the conference report rejects the 
administration's proposed cut to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund 
(CWSRF) program, the primary Federal program for funding wastewater 
infrastructure projects throughout the nation. A year ago, the 
President requested $687.5 million in capitalization grants for CWSRFs 
for FY 2008. At that time, it was the lowest level requested by any 
administration since the creation of the program. For FY 2009, the 
administration requested a pitiful $555 million, a 20 percent cut from 
last year's appropriation of $689 million. The administration's 
proposal puts at risk the water quality gains achieved in recent 
decades, and the conference report correctly rejects this cut.
  Finally, the conference report rejects the administration's proposal 
to cut funding for the Army Corps of Engineers by $845 million in FY 
2009, and instead provides increased funding to begin to address the 
growing backlog of water resources development projects, including 
those authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 2007.
  I am also pleased that the conference report includes an 
Infrastructure Investment Reserve Fund, which provides the flexibility 
necessary to accommodate legislation to increase investment in our 
nation's infrastructure in FY 2009.
  I look forward to working with Chairman Spratt on continued 
improvements to our nation's infrastructure, and I urge my colleagues 
to support the conference report.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the FY2009 
budget resolution. This budget includes nearly $179 billion to fund the 
war.
  Congress should not in good conscience vote to continue the 
Administration's illegal occupation of Iraq. The greatest tragedy of 
this war is the staggering loss of life, starting with the 4,091 brave 
men and women in U.S. military uniform. Tens of thousands more have 
been injured. Both of these numbers will continue to rise.
  The U.S. policies in Iraq have failed as is evidenced by the fact 
that close to half of the population is struggling in extreme poverty. 
Estimates are that 1,000,000 innocent Iraqis have died as a result of 
the U.S. invasion. A reported 70 percent of Iraqis--nearly three 
quarters of the population--are without clean water; 80 percent lack 
effective sanitation; and 90 percent of hospitals lack essential 
surgical and medical supplies needed for Iraqi health and wellbeing.
  Iraq's ability to meet the basic needs of its people is in shambles 
and our beloved troops remain in harms way. This body should act on the 
mandate of the American public given last November and bring our troops 
home now. Instead we continue to forfeit the public's trust with this 
unrelenting commitment to keep the war going when we have the power to 
end it. All it requires is a refusal to consider any legislation that 
contains or implies continued funding for this war.
  The grand total for all defense related spending, including war funds 
and nuclear activities, is $607.8 billion. This is 56% of all 
discretionary spending in the budget for FY09. In other words, this 
budget continues the same failed policies that dedicate the majority of 
tax payer funds to defense spending while hard working Americans 
continue to struggle to afford basic necessities such as food, health 
care, homes and good schools for their kids.
  The money in this budget that will go to fund war could be used to 
provide 39,912,404 people with healthcare; it could be used to offer an 
additional 1,053,429 affordable housing units; it could be used to 
provide 20,937,104 college level scholarships to the young minds of 
America. The budget should be reflective of America's priorities, but 
this budget falls far short of reflecting the priorities of the 
majority of Americans, so I oppose it.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank Chairman Splatt for his 
leadership and for his hard work on this budget. I also want to thank 
all the staff, especially Tom Kahn and Scott Russell.
  They have put together a very good budget that we should all support.
  The Democratic budget restores vital funding to programs that will 
help American families during these difficult economic times.
  The Democratic budget rejects the President's cuts to Medicare and 
Medicaid, rejects his cuts to food assistance and rejects his cuts to 
higher education.
  Our budget will expand children's healthcare, increase support for 
first responders and for veterans, expand support for renewable energy 
initiatives and fund new green job training programs.
  I'm also very pleased that the budget retains language that I and 
Republican Woolsey worked on with Chairman Spratt to address the 
continuing waste fraud and abuse at the Department of Defense.
  Again I want to thank and commend Chairman Spratt for his work on 
this budget and I urge my colleagues to support it.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is 
ordered on the conference report.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the conference report.
  Pursuant to clause 10 of rule XX, the yeas and nays are ordered.
  Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this question 
will be postponed.

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