[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 49 (Monday, March 23, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H3709-H3710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PRESIDENT OBAMA'S BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, for the past year we have been on an 
economic roller coaster, with scary turns and falls coming ever faster, 
making the sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs even worse.
  Along the way, the Federal Government, spurred by the most-dire 
predictions, has taken sweeping actions. Some, like the bailout, I 
opposed; others, like the Economic Recovery Package of President Obama, 
I supported. But action was warranted to help the struggling economy 
and restore public confidence. Yet we continue to react to part of the 
problem with partial stopgap actions.
  This week, Congress has an opportunity to deal with the bigger 
picture and comprehensive solutions as we consider President Obama's 
budget.
  For decades we have been living beyond our means and the 
environment's capacity to be a dumping ground for toxic waste, and air 
and water pollution, especially carbon pollution, that is destabilizing 
the climate, raising global temperature and sea levels, and changing 
things we rely on, like growing seasons and water supply.
  We have been living on borrowed time and borrowed money. The previous 
administration cut taxes for those who needed help the least, increased 
spending but avoided long-term investments in education and our 
infrastructure like roads, bridges and rail.
  The day of reckoning is here, accelerated by the global financial 
meltdown, the causes of which are clearer than the remedies. The sad 
truth is that the geniuses who figured out how to enrich themselves 
were clueless about the broader implications. Too much energy, brain 
power and lobbying has been spent on making money for a few, not on 
creating underlying economic value for the Nation. We have been left 
with two starkly different paths: we can muddle on through doing what 
we have done, only less of it, with a battle over who will take the 
biggest losses while continuing these past patterns. Given the array of 
special interests and the history involved, we have a pretty good idea 
what that path will look like.
  The other approach is outlined in the President's budget: tackle 
comprehensively the challenges of health care, education, the long-term 
fiscal stability of the United States and global warming and its real 
costs and danger.
  The health care system is the biggest opportunity for savings. We 
spend more money than anyone else in the world for health care, but 
ours is a system where Americans are sick more often and die sooner 
than people in most developed countries and in even some poor ones. It 
is not just foreign countries that have figured this out, but many 
American communities provide better health care while spending less 
money than the Nation as a whole. We as a Nation can do this.
  Energy dependence and carbon pollution doesn't just threaten our way 
of life in the future, it attacks our pocketbook and our communities 
now. The President's plan will save families money, make America more 
secure, and protect the planet.
  In the middle of the economic meltdown, we shouldn't and we won't 
raise taxes. But over the long haul, we are going to have to pay our 
debts and find money for rebuilding and renewing America. There are 
areas in the budget that point the way, like keeping some portion of 
the expiring tax cuts on the most well-off and reinstituting the 
Superfund tax to clean up toxic waste.
  Finally, there is the question of tackling unnecessary spending. The 
President points out agricultural subsidies for the rich agribusiness 
interests, while shortchanging most farmers and ranchers. There is a 
way to make more rational our support of agriculture. We need to 
support him as we all face the question whether Cold War weapons that 
the military doesn't need, and in some cases doesn't even want, are 
worth the costs to the American taxpayer.
  The path contained in the budget will be the first chance for 
Congress, the administration, and, most important, the public to weave 
together the elements of change and reform. There are short-term 
political risks, to be sure. But the long-term benefits are 
breathtaking, especially when compared to

[[Page H3710]]

continuing the short term, business as usual, unsustainable course that 
has led us to this point of economic and fiscal disaster.
  My hope and prayer is that Congress will be able to meet the 
President's challenge and work with him to refine his bold budget, 
treat our problems with the gravity they merit, and the public with the 
respect that it is due.

                          ____________________