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




               REGARDING THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET PROPOSAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Pence) for 3 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Madam Speaker, I rise today in the midst of an enormous 
amount of national outrage. I sensed it yesterday when I was in 
Anderson, Indiana, meeting with my constituents, meeting with small 
business leaders at a forum. Now much in the media today is focused on 
the frustration over a large business, specifically AIG, that received 
tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money and now has been busy 
paying bonuses with it to the tune of over $150 million and has been 
passing out that money to foreign corporations. That outrage is very 
real and I agree with it. The American people are tired of bailouts. I 
voted against the Wall Street bailout last fall, defied a President of 
my own party, because I simply believe we can't borrow and spend and 
bail our way back to a growing America. And it seems that much of the 
public has now come to the conclusion that this notion that we can bail 
out every failing business in the country is a deeply flawed notion. 
But I also heard an enormous amount of outrage in my district yesterday 
about this administration's budget.
  The truth is the more the American people look at the President's 
budget plan, the more they realize that it spends too much, it taxes 
too much, and it borrows too much, and we have to do better.
  I heard yesterday from a constituent by the name of Ted Fiock, who 
runs and owns Anderson Tool and Engineering Company. He talked about 
the increasing cost in his business, saying, ``The cost burden is just 
insane right now. We're not doing well. We're struggling. We're in a 
survival mode right now.'' You can imagine his frustration and even, I 
would perceive, outrage when I explained to him that 50 percent of the 
Americans who will be paying higher taxes under the President's budget 
are actually small business owners just like him. The President said it 
would just affect Americans who make more than $250,000 a year, but 
according to the most reasonable estimates, more than 50 percent of the 
Americans that file taxes over that amount are actually small business 
owners just like Ted filing as individuals. Raising taxes on small 
businesses, especially during these difficult economic times, is not a 
prescription for recovery. It's a prescription for economic decline. I 
also shared with Ted and others the President's plan, the so-called 
cap-and-trade energy tax. Under the administration's budget, there 
would be a new energy tax that could cost every household, let alone 
every business, up to $3,128 a year for using electricity, driving a 
car, relying on energy in any way.
  The President's budget simply taxes too much. And as I explain the 
metes and bounds in this budget today, the outrage about AIG's bonuses, 
the outrage about bailouts has suddenly met its match. I think the more 
the American people look at this administration's budget, the more they 
know we can do better, and we must do better. It's time for this 
Congress to embrace the principles of fiscal restraint and policies 
that will get America growing again, and Republicans are prepared to 
bring those ideas forward.

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