[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H3445-H3446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE BUDGET TAXES TOO MUCH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for 3\3/4\ minutes.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the Speaker.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk a little bit about the budget 
issues that are before us and about how we are spending too much, we're 
borrowing too much and we're taxing too much. Recently one of my 
constituents came up and she had a child in her arms. It was her 6-
month-old grandchild. She looked at me and she said, Marsha, you know, 
it makes me really angry when you all spend money that I haven't made, 
but when Congress is spending money that this grandbaby has not made, 
it just absolutely infuriates me. It makes me want to come to 
Washington and knock on the doors of the Members of Congress and say, 
What are you doing to this child's future?
  Madam Speaker, that is what our constituents are saying when they 
look at this budget proposal that contains the largest tax increase in 
history, $1.4 trillion, over a 10-year period of time. Now some of my 
constituents have said, where do they get this money? Where does this 
come from and what are they taxing to come up with $1.4 trillion? Well, 
I want to talk a second about the cap-and-tax proposal that the 
President and the administration has brought forward. I want to use a 
quote that the President made in an editorial board with the San 
Francisco Chronicle in January 2008. It said under my plan of a cap-
and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. That 
will cost money. That will pass the money on to consumers.
  That was in January 2008. What we see is, yes, electricity rates will 
go up. Every time an individual flips on a light switch, every time 
they punch the brew button on their coffee maker, every time they turn 
on their computer, it is going to cost them more

[[Page H3446]]

money, every single time, to the tune of $3,128 per family per year. 
That is what we are beginning to see. This is going to increase your 
cost of doing business in your home every single day of living, that 
maintenance of life that we all go through.
  We're very concerned about this part of the proposal, the cap-and-
tax. It is part of the $1.4 trillion increase.
  With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back my time, and I thank you for 
yielding the time.

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