[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 41 (Monday, March 9, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H3092-H3096]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Fudge) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Ms. FUDGE. I am a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, better 
known as the CBC. Currently, the CBC is chaired by the Honorable 
Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. My 
name is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, representing the 11th District of 
Ohio.
  CBC members are advocates for the human family nationally and 
internationally and have played a significant role as local and 
regional activists. We continue to work diligently to be the conscience 
of the Congress.
  But understand all politics are local. Therefore, we provide 
dedicated and focused service to the citizens and the congressional 
districts we serve.
  The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus 
to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the 
needs of millions of neglected citizens continues to be our focal point 
for the legislative work and political activities of the Congressional 
Black Caucus today. More than ever, it is necessary that we, as 
leaders, help those whom we serve. As the floor moderator today for the 
Congressional Black Caucus special order hour, I have to add that it is 
more important than ever that we put the money where our mouth is.
  For the past 8 years, we have lived in a cloud of corporate misdeeds, 
back-room dealings, and extreme tax cuts that have only benefited the 
wealthiest people in this Nation. Due to the Bush administration's lack 
of government oversight, intervention and inattention, we now face the 
toughest economy in our lifetime.
  Such neglect and inattention have led to this storm called a housing 
crisis, a collapse of the stock market and rising health care costs 
that leaves most Americans in a state of shock. In 2008, nearly 4 
million jobs were lost across the Nation. In February of this year, the 
Greater Cleveland area unemployment rate was at a staggering 10.2 
percent. The overall African-American unemployment rate is even 
greater, currently over 13 percent.
  In these dire times, something must be done to help our Nation and 
our people get back on their feet. The best way to address these issues 
and illustrate our desire to better the lives of so many Americans is 
with our budget priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.
  I want to thank President Obama for his thoughtful budget that 
signals a new era of responsibility. I want to applaud his attention to 
our Nation's most urgent needs, job training and job creation, health 
care and education.
  I would like to thank him for the particular attention that this 
budget gives to the mental health needs of our veterans. Finally, I 
applaud this administration for paying attention to those that need us 
the most, our children and our elderly.
  As the former mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, and on behalf of 
all mayors and all local leaders, I want to focus on the 
administration's full funding of Community Development Block Grants. 
The fiscal year 2010 budget provides $4.5 billion to fully fund this 
program.

[[Page H3093]]

  As legislators, our number one priority is to get ourselves out of 
this current economic crisis. To accomplish this, we must look to 
programs that help improve and grow our economy. Historically, for 
every $1 of funding through a Community Development Block Grant, nearly 
$3 is leveraged for economic development projects.
  When a city needs a grocery store or more affordable housing, this 
block grant funding is utilized and helps build neighborhoods. This is 
one of the few programs where the money goes directly to the locality. 
It does not get tied up in State government or Federal affairs. The 
money immediately goes to the areas where local leaders can help expand 
economic opportunities for their local citizens.
  In Cleveland, Community Development Block Grant dollars have gone to 
assist our housing trust fund. Every dollar of investment leverages $5 
of private investment. In 2008, housing trust fund funds were committed 
to projects that supported nearly 700 energy efficient housing units.
  This money has also gone to combat foreclosure. CDBG funds are the 
principal source of funds for supporting a range of activities to 
respond to the aftermath of foreclosures. This year, block grants can 
provide $300,000 for anti-predatory lending programs administered by 
Cleveland's Department of Consumer Affairs and other nonprofit 
agencies, over $400,000 for code enforcement and almost $900,000 for 
nuisance abatement and land reutilization on properties that are either 
vacant or have been through foreclosure.
  Community Development Block Grant dollars will help with housing 
services for low- or moderate-income families. These funds are a 
critical source of assistance for seniors and low-income families with 
funding to repair their homes. This year over $2.2 million is expected 
to be used for home repair assistance from these funds.
  This grant will also helped community-based organizations. 
Approximately $8 million supports a network of organizations that 
provide housing services, neighborhood safety programs and community 
outreach.
  Finally, CDBG funding will help city-wide services, housing and 
financial services such as foreclosure counseling, homeownership 
counseling, landlord tenant counseling and fair housing assistance. The 
funds also support nonprofits that offer social services such as 
educational programming for youth and food programs for our seniors and 
low-income families.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the distinguished woman and our chair, the 
gentlelady from California, Ms. Barbara Lee.
  Ms. LEE of California. Thank you very much. Let me thank the 
gentlelady from Ohio for yielding, but also for your leadership and for 
that very clear and powerful statement and ensuring that the 
Congressional Black Caucus each week has an opportunity to talk about 
those issues that are affecting the African-American community, 
communities of color and the entire country. So thank you, 
Congresswoman Fudge.

  There are just a couple of things I would like to say tonight on the 
budget. I have to acknowledge and thank the Chair of the Budget 
Committee for the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressman Bobby Scott, 
who consistently each year pulls together his task force. I serve as a 
member of his task force to look at the overall budget and to make sure 
that the Congressional Black Caucus' focus is couched within the fact 
that historically we have been and continue to be the conscience of the 
Congress and that the budget reflects our values. The budget is a moral 
document, and it's within that perspective and lens that we look at the 
budget.
  Let me say a couple of things with regard to the budget, 
specifically. As an example of what I am talking about, the HIV/AIDS 
pandemic is devastating the African-American community and communities 
of color both here and, of course, abroad, especially in sub-Saharan 
Africa.
  We believe the time has come to really put forth a national HIV/AIDS 
strategy, a plan, and fund it. We also established in 1999, under the 
great leadership of Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a minority AIDS 
initiative. And this year we are pushing to fund that minority AIDS 
initiative at least at $645, $650 million. That's really a drop in the 
bucket, but we have to start somewhere, and we want to make sure that 
our tax dollars, as it relates to HIV and AIDS, are targeted and 
directed to where the problem is the greatest.
  And, of course, we know, when you look at the statistics in the 
African-American community, HIV and AIDS is off the scale. So we must 
do more and we have to get this moving very quickly.
  Secondly, I would like to just mention this defense budget. Each and 
every year there are a few of us who talk about the fact that we all, 
and as the daughter of a lieutenant colonel, I am, as I always say, a 
military brat, support a strong military, a strong national defense and 
our troops.
  It's time that we look at a realistic national security budget that 
reflects our national security priorities, not to continue to fund many 
of those Cold War-era weapons systems, which are being built for a 
threat that doesn't exist. So we are looking at ways, and I have found 
in the GAO studies that have been conducted on the defense budget, 
there's billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse in the defense 
budget.
  It's time we look at closing some of those items that GAO identified, 
and I believe we could get up to some $80-some billion in cuts just 
based on closing the items that have been identified as waste, fraud 
and abuse.
  So there is much to look at in terms of the budget. This is a very 
difficult year, it's a very difficult time, given the economic 
recession, and so we must have a budget that reflects the values of our 
country, including addressing poverty in a big way.
  Eight more million people now are living in poverty as a result, 
unfortunately, of the policies of the last 8 years. We have to begin to 
look at how we address these moral gaps, and that's what they were. 
That's what they are, the dignity of all human beings must be reflected 
in our budget, and that is what the Congressional Black Caucus seeks to 
do to ensure that every man, woman and child, not only in the Black 
community, but throughout the country, have support and our Federal 
Government policies that support their dignity and their worth.
  So I want to thank Congressman Bobby Scott and Congresswoman Marcia 
Fudge for their leadership on that and just know that we are working 
day and night to make sure that whatever budget comes out of here 
reflects the moral values of our country. Thank you.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for your leadership 
as well.
  At this time, Madam Speaker, I would like to yield to the 
distinguished Member from the Virgin Islands, Representative 
Christensen.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you. Madam Speaker, I join my Congressional 
Black Caucus colleagues this evening for what I consider to be one of 
the important, if not the most important aspects of our Federal budget, 
health and health care spending. I also rise, not only as a colleague 
and as a physician, but as a Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus 
Health Brain Trust, whose mission is to ensure that our community's 
unique health and health care issues are at the forefront as our budget 
process proceeds.
  Finally, I rise to applaud President Obama for the steps he has taken 
and hopefully will continue to take to ensure that the social 
determinants of health are fully considered and solutions fully 
integrated into health care reform.
  In recent years I have joined some of our other colleagues and 
religious leaders on the Hill to address the budget as a moral 
document, as you have heard our chairwoman speak to a few minutes ago, 
as a document that represents our country's values and our values of 
the people. In those years we decried the fact that the budget that was 
sent to Congress by the then President did not include support or in 
any way foster work that we are called to do by our faith, not just 
Christian faith but any faith, essentially to ensure that the needs of 
the least of these are met.
  The Congressional Black Caucus, as a group, has also met with past 
Presidents, just as we met with President Obama 2 weeks ago. In these 
meetings

[[Page H3094]]

we outline our agenda priorities and indicate our hope for the 
President's support in health care, education, housing, economic 
opportunity, improved relationships with African and Caribbean 
countries and a number of other areas of concern.
  Until now, neither have the goals of the religious community or the 
CBC, which parallel each other, even been partially approached. In 
fact, if it were not for the strong position taken by the Democrats in 
this body, and some of our colleagues on the other side who joined us, 
to protect them, programs like Medicaid, Head Start, Healthy Start, 
maternal and child health programs and many others would have been 
severely compromised and the lives of many of our fellow Americans with 
them.
  We don't have to look far to remember that expanded coverage for 
uninsured children was impossible to accomplish until this new 
administration was sworn in. But change is coming. We, as a country, 
have reason to hope for a new and a better day. We are pleased, as we 
look at the outline that President Obama has sent for the year 2010, 
that it resonates not just with our request or that of religious 
leaders over the years, but that it responds to many of the long unmet 
needs of the American people.
  It builds on the very important down payment made by the American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which funds are already beginning to 
reach communities like mine across the country and provide a lifeline 
to families in this time of dire economic stress.
  I want to spend a few minutes to focus on the health care parts of 
our budget, because as long as I have been in Congress, the grave 
differences in health care access, quality and health outcomes that 
have had a detrimental impact on the health wellness and life 
opportunities of millions of Americans every single year have been the 
focal issues of my efforts and those of the Congressional Black Caucus. 
These differences not only exist along lines of race and ethnicity, but 
also along lines of gender and geography.
  The sad reality is this, because we as a Nation have not taken the 
steps necessary to close these health and health care gaps, it is 
estimated that 100,000 people, a disproportionate number of whom are 
racial and ethnic minorities, die prematurely from preventible causes 
every year. Additionally, because progress to address the root cause of 
health inequities, the social determinants of health, have been 
stagnant, health disparities are no longer only a racial and ethnic 
minority health problem. Today, they are an American issue.
  This failure to improve health, to address its root causes, not only 
affects the health quality and lives of people of color, but undermines 
them for everyone in this country and weakens our country's position of 
leadership in the world.

                              {time}  2000

  The good news, however, is that we are in a new political day, and I 
am extremely heartened that our new President, President Obama, is 
aggressively taking steps to continue work begun in the ARRA and is 
making a sizable commitment--to the tune of $634 billion over 10 
years--on health care reform.
  And so we are pleased that he is making good on his promise to ensure 
and improve the health and health care of those millions of Americans 
who have been left out and forgotten for far too long and, in doing so, 
to bring about meaningful and thoughtful reform to our Nation's very 
broken and outdated health care system.
  What is more, I applaud the President's emphasis on prevention, with 
this budget's historic $1 billion investment in prevention, as well as 
the other provisions that will address social determinants that are not 
normally seen as health-related, an investment worth making, especially 
since studies confirm that roughly 60 percent of the premature deaths 
in the United States are attributable to social circumstances, 
environmental conditions, and behavioral choices, all of which could be 
addressed through prevention and a more holistic approach to health.
  For example, we know that educational attainment has a direct and 
indirect impact on health and health care. Well, so does President 
Obama, whose fiscal year 2010 budget strengthens and reforms the 
Nation's public schools and expands funds for college.
  We know that having access to safe and affordable housing, as well as 
living in communities that are structurally and socially stable, has an 
impact on health. The President's budget provides $1 billion for an 
Affordable Housing Trust Fund. He has a fund that will prevent 
homelessness and strengthen families. Additionally, the President's 
plans invests $3.2 for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to 
help low-income families with their home heating and cooling expenses, 
which will not only prevent accidents, but will also help ensure that 
our homes are not places that make us sick.
  We also know that the foods we eat have a direct impact on our health 
and well-being, which is why the President's budget, which includes 
robust funding to expand access to nutrition programs, especially among 
women and children and seniors, is so critically important to support.
  Further, we are impressed that this budget seems to reflect an 
understanding of one aspect of health disparity elimination that 
previous budgets and many fail to grasp, that health disparity 
elimination will require far more than just covering all of our 
Nation's uninsured, as important is that is in itself.
  In fact, we know that the lack of insurance accounts for roughly only 
20 percent of the racial and ethnic differences and morbidity and 
mortality that we hear about and experience year after year.
  So, I am extremely heartened that this budget includes significant 
increases in funding to many of the critically important programs that 
are needed to ensure health equity.
  For this reason, Madam Speaker and colleagues, I look forward as 
Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust to working 
with my colleagues in Congress and with the President to ensure that we 
reform our health care system in a manner that does not just get it 
done, but that gets it done right.
  To that end, while this budget aptly and appropriately emphasizes 
reducing un-insurance, bolstering prevention, closing gaps in the 
health care workforce, and ensuring that our Federal programs are 
strengthened, I want to stress that health disparity elimination must 
be an integral component as well.
  Not only do health disparities cause, as I said, about 100,000 
preventable deaths each year; in fact, health disparities are among the 
key factors that drive up health care costs that we, as a Nation, 
struggle to contain every year.
  I know that designing a health care system that addresses the social 
determinants of health that exacerbate health inequities will require 
the willing to take bold steps and the visionary leadership to ensure 
that more than one step is taken. However, I also know that we have 
both of those today--both in the administration and in this Congress.
  Together, we can reform our health care system in a manner that 
champions health equity, and together we can make this Nation, one 
person and one community at a time, healthier, stronger, and better 
prepared for tomorrow.
  I yield back the balance of my time, and I thank you for taking on 
the challenge of this Special Order every Monday evening, and for 
focusing on the President's budget tonight.
  There are other health and health care spending priorities set by the 
President in this budget that are downright long overdue.
  For example, the budget enhances HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment by 
increasing resources to detect, prevent, and treat HIV/AIDS 
domestically, especially in the hardest hit communities, a 
disproportionate number of which are African American communities.
  The President's budget sets aside $330 million to increase the number 
of doctors, nurses and dentists who practice in areas where there are 
known shortages in health professionals will play a very significant 
role in ensuring that whenever someone needs the services of a trained 
health care provider, he or she will be able to get it without having 
to travel 450 miles.
  By investing $19 billion in health information technology, we will 
ensure that as we modernize our nation's health care system to maximize 
its efficiency, coordination and privacy, that we do so in a manner 
that does not create a two-tiered health care system.
  This investment in HIT also will ensure that if and when another 
natural disaster hits one

[[Page H3095]]

of our cities along the coast or in one of the U.S. Territories, that 
survivors do not have to fear that their paper medical records will 
have perished in the basement of a hospital or clinic, or that their 
health and that of their families will be compromised because they do 
not have immediate access to needed health records.
  The budget's $6 billion investment in cancer research--which reflects 
the Administration's multi-year commitment to double cancer research 
funding--will play a key role not only in reducing the egregious racial 
and ethnic disparities we see in cancer treatment, but also in cancer 
deaths.
  And the budget's investment in Medicaid and Medicare to strengthen 
the programs, bolster their integrity and accountability, and expand 
the programs' research agendas is critically important, as these two 
programs play pivotal roles in ensuring that our nation's most 
vulnerable have access to needed health care services and treatments.
  Finally, and of utmost importance to the people I represent in the 
U.S. Virgin Islands, President Obama signals in his budget outline his 
intention to move towards equity for the Territories in health and 
other related programs.
  There are so many positive elements to this budget that indicate that 
we are headed in the right direction; especially as it relates to 
fixing our nation's health care system and that with his leadership and 
that of the leadership in this body we are beginning to build a health 
care system for the 21st century and beyond.
  For this reason, Madam Speaker and colleagues, I look forward--as the 
Chair of the CBC Health Braintrust--to working with my colleagues in 
Congress and with the President to ensure that we reform our health 
care system in a manner that does not just get it done, but that gets 
it done right.
  To that end, while this budget aptly and appropriately emphasizes 
reducing un-insurance, bolstering prevention, closing gaps in the 
health care workforce and ensuring that our federal health programs are 
strengthened, I want stress that health disparity elimination must be 
an integral component as well.
  Not only do health disparities cause about 100,000 premature 
preventable deaths each year, but in fact, health disparities are among 
the key factors that drive up the health care costs that we--as a 
nation--struggle to contain each year.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank very much. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the 
gentlelady from the Virgin Islands, who is always, in our caucus and in 
this Congress, a leading advocate for health care reform. I thank her.
  At this time I would yield to the distinguished Member from the State 
of Virginia, Mr. Robert ``Bobby'' Scott.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Thank you. Madam Speaker, I thank the 
gentlelady from Ohio for organizing this Special Order. The budget is 
an extremely important part of our work, and I thank you for allowing 
us the opportunity to discuss what is going on with the budget.
  Before we can discuss the budget going forward, we have to understand 
where we are and the mess that we are in. Sometimes you need charts to 
adequately describe exactly what the situation is.
  This is a chart from 1989 showing the budget deficit. Starting in 
1993, we went up to surplus. Unfortunately, in 2001, we had a complete 
collapse of the budget. 2008, the deficit will be about here. A little 
over $400 billion. 2009, it will literally be off the chart. So, this 
is what we are dealing with.
  In 1993, we made the tough choices and eliminated the deficit, went 
into surplus, and had enough in the beginning of 2001, enough of a 
surplus to pay Social Security for 75 years without reducing any 
benefits or to pay off the entire debt held by the public by last year. 
We were in good shape financially in 2001, but we made the wrong 
choices. And the rest is history.
  The deterioration in the budget from the $5.5 trillion surplus to the 
probably $3 trillion, maybe $4 trillion deficit, was a swing of almost 
$9 trillion. Almost $1 trillion a year deterioration in the budget.
  This chart shows where the public debt has exploded. In 2001, we were 
headed by the budget projections to paying off not only the debt held 
by the public, but all of the debt; putting the money back in the trust 
funds and everything else. Instead, the debt has totally exploded.
  Now, one of the problems with the debt is that more and more of it is 
coming from foreign countries. Primarily, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and 
China. And that has foreign policy implications. You can't negotiate a 
good trade deal when the next thing out of your mouth is, Can I borrow 
some money? When you're borrowing money from Saudi Arabia, obviously 
that has implications on our ability to negotiate gasoline and oil 
prices.
  The debt held in foreign countries was headed towards zero. It has, 
again, exploded. Now we have over $2 trillion of our debt held in 
foreign countries.
  Now, we got in this mess because we had unaffordable tax cuts, 
primarily for the wealthy. People get mad when you say ``primarily for 
the wealthy,'' but it was done, presumably, to create jobs.
  This chart shows how, in the last 8 years, in terms of job growth, we 
have experienced the worst job growth since the Great Depression. 
Herbert Hoover is the only President on this chart who's done worse 
than the last 8 years.
  There's very poor economic activity, as measured by the Dow Jones 
Industrial Average. This chart shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average 
from Hoover, Franklin, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, 
Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton. The worst since Herbert 
Hoover in terms of Dow performance in the last 8 years.
  Now, some people have said that all those tax cuts actually increased 
revenues. Well, that is not exactly true. Since 1960, this chart, just 
to break down the color code, a green bar is a year in which we 
achieved record revenues in individual income tax. Record revenues. A 
red bar is one where a record was not achieved.
  You will notice since 1960, tax cuts, tax increases, recessions, 
depression; everything since good years, bad years, since 1960, there 
were only 2 years in which we did not achieve a record. So, to say that 
we had additional revenues wouldn't be saying much, because we always 
have revenues.
  But it's even worse than that because in 2001 we did not achieve a 
record. 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. We went 5 consecutive years, something 
that has not happened since they started taking records in the 1930s, 
did you go more than 2 years without achieving a record. You have had 
world wars and everything else. The record: 5 years without a record.
  So, the cuts in taxes did not increase revenues. It actually 
decreased revenues. And, as I said, they get mad when you say the taxes 
were cut for the rich.
  This chart shows for people under $20,000--from $20,000 to $50,000; 
$50,000 to $75,000; $75,000 to $100,000; $100,000 to $200,000; $200,000 
to $1 million; over $1 million, how much you got out of the 2001 and 
2003 tax cuts. You notice that if you made over $1 million, you did 
well. And if you made under $20,000, or even under $50,000, you hardly 
need ink to draw the bar.
  There's one particular tax that, in the Obama budget, will be 
repealed. Put back the way was. It's about a $20 billion tax cut every 
year. And this is how it's distributed. If you make over $1 million, 
you get about $17,000. $200,000 to $1 million, you get several hundred 
dollars. $100,000 to $200,000; on average, you will get you will get 
about $1 a month. Under $100,000; on average, you will get not a dime.
  Now, one of the things that is extremely important and why it is 
crucial that we get this budget under control, and that is I referred 
to Social Security. This is a Social Security cash flow chart, showing 
the blue bars are bringing in now more than we are paying out. In 2017, 
we will start paying out more than we are bringing in.
  This is $200 billion deficit, a $600 billion deficit. By 2040, we 
will be approaching $1 trillion, paying out more Social Security than 
we are bringing in. If we had the $5.5 trillion, you needed about $4 
trillion in the bank today, drawing interest. We could pay Social 
Security for 75 years without reducing benefits.
  Unfortunately, we are going broke, and this is one of the reasons we 
have to get our budget under control quickly, because otherwise we will 
get into a deficit situation in Social Security that we will never get 
out of.
  One of the things that we have to do is make sure that the 
expenditures and tax revenues get back under control. Federal revenues 
traditionally, in the past, have been less than the expenditures. We 
have been spending more than we are bringing in. That is deficit 
spending.
  By the mid 1990s, we actually reduced spending and increased 
revenues, to the point where we had that healthy surplus that was set 
to go as far as the eye

[[Page H3096]]

could see. Unfortunately, in 2001, we passed tax cuts that we could not 
afford, collapsing revenues and, in fact, even increased as a 
percentage of GDP, increased spending, creating this deficit. We have 
to get back under control where the revenues are more than the 
expenditures.
  This year, we are out of control because we have had the stimulus 
package, we have had the bailouts, and everything. But this is just a 
1-year spike. And we need to get the budget back under control. And we 
can do that. Under the Obama budgets, we will be back into more 
traditional levels of deficits.
  But, when we get down here, that should not be the end. That is just 
the first step. We are going to have to continue bringing spending down 
and revenues up so that we will have our surplus so that we will be 
able to afford Social Security.
  The President's budget, the first thing it does is reinstates what is 
called PAYGO. One of the reasons that we could maintain fiscal 
responsibility in the 1990s is we had a process called PAYGO. Pay as 
you go. If you offer a spending program, you have to pay for it. You 
have to raise the taxes to pay for it or cut some spending somewhere 
else. If you want to cut some taxes, you have to cut some spending or 
raise some other taxes. Everything do you, have you to pay for it. And 
if you don't pay for it, you can't pass it.
  Unfortunately, in 2001, PAYGO expired, and the tax cuts were passed 
without paying for it. Increased spending took place without paying for 
it. And we got into the ditch that we are in. We now are back under 
PAYGO, where we are going to have to pay for what we do.
  One of the things that the Obama budget does, it presents an honest 
budget. There are many things in the last few budgets that were just 
kind of left out. We knew every year we'd been continuing some tax cuts 
year after year. We knew each year we'd put those back in. Those 
weren't in the budget as introduced.

                              {time}  2015

  The war spending. We know we are at war. There was zero for the war 
in Iraq and Afghanistan in the budgets as introduced. We knew we were 
going to spend money on those wars. In fact, there were about $250 
billion worth of known expenditures that we knew we were going to spend 
that were left out of the budgets. The Obama budget includes everything 
that everybody knows that we are going to spend.
  So with PAYGO and fiscal responsibility, we are going to at least 
reduce the deficit 50 percent in the first term of President Obama; and 
after we get there, we will continue to make progress.
  The President's budget makes significant investments in energy, 
getting us from dependence on foreign oil and creating millions of jobs 
in energy, creating clean energy jobs. His budget brings down the 
skyrocketing costs of health care, and makes focused investments in 
education, one of the things on energy, alternative forms of energy and 
conservation and significant research investments.
  In health care, we need to make investments in cost control to make 
sure that we can control health care. The Social Security chart and the 
Medicare chart are very similar. The Medicare chart is actually even 
worse because of the accelerating health care costs. We need to get 
those costs under control, because if we don't get Medicare under 
control, health care generally will consume the entire budget. We need 
to make sure that we are investing in access to make sure that those 
who have insurance can keep it, because as the costs go up, people are 
losing their health insurance.
  He is making significant investments in education, making sure that 
tax credits for education expenses are increased and Pell Grants are 
increased so more and more people can go to college. And we want to 
make sure that we invest in elementary and secondary education, 
particularly early childhood education.
  The budget makes a unique investment in nurse home visits. These have 
been shown to significantly reduce a lot of problems, one of which is 
child abuse, which is highly correlated with future crime by these 
nurse visits. The nurse visits have been studied. I serve on the 
Judiciary Committee, and they have found that those who have had the 
advantage of the nurse visits were one-third as likely to be arrested 
18 years later as those who did not have the visits; education is much 
better off; child abuse is down. So those visits will be a very 
important investment in our future.
  And, finally, the President's budgets continues large increases in 
veterans health care. We had significant increases 2 years ago and last 
year, and we will continue those increases so our veterans get the 
health care that they certainly have earned and deserve.
  We need to make some tough choices. The President says one of the 
most difficult choices are making expenditures today that save money in 
the future. Nobody wants to spend the money today if the savings won't 
occur for 5 or 10 years.
  One of the bills that I have introduced is the Youth Promise Act that 
makes investments in young people to keep them out of trouble. We are 
spending more money per person in incarceration. We have got more 
people locked up today per hundred thousand population than anywhere on 
Earth. We could significantly reduce the need for that correlation if 
we made investments up front, getting young people on the right track 
and keeping them on the right track. The Youth Promise Act does that. 
It has an interesting aspect to it. When you save money, the localities 
that come up with their local plans will try to identify where they are 
saving money, and those agencies should kick in to keep the program 
running.
  The State of Pennsylvania did the collaborative approach that is 
anticipated in the Youth Promise Act, and they funded a number of 
programs for a total cost of approximately $60 million, $60 million, 
and they calculate they save over the next few years over $300 million, 
because they made those investments and reduced crime significantly. 
Nobody wants to make the first investment; so the Youth Promise Act 
will make those investments and, hopefully, the localities will 
continue the programs, saving significant money in the future.
  But we have to make the tough choices. And if we don't make those 
tough choices, if we don't get the budget under control, we are going 
to be spending entirely too much money on interest in the national 
debt, we will jeopardize Social Security and Medicare. But with the 
leadership of President Obama, the Congressional Black Caucus is 
committed to addressing our priorities in a fiscally responsible way. 
Social Security, Medicare, and our future depend on it.
  Again, I want to thank the gentlelady from Ohio for her leadership 
and giving us the opportunity to talk about the budget today.
  Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from 
Virginia, Mr. Bobby Scott.
  For those of us in the Congressional Black Caucus, we clearly know 
that Representative Scott is the best in the Congress when it comes to 
analyzing budgets and providing information to his colleagues. So, 
again, I thank him.
  Madam Speaker, I thank you. I thank the members of the CBC for 
allowing me to act in their behalf tonight; as well as I want to say 
that we do very much appreciate the fact that we now have an 
administration and a President who does believe in an honest budget, 
who does believe in doing the things that are necessary to get this 
country back on track.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

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