[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 24, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H3754]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         2010 BUDGET RESOLUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Scott) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, this week the House Budget 
Committee will mark up the concurrent budget resolution for fiscal year 
2010. Over a month ago, President Obama submitted a budget plan 
focusing on economic recovery, strategic investments, and most 
importantly, fiscal responsibility. At this critical juncture in our 
history, President Obama's budget addresses the mistakes of the past, 
makes much-needed investments in the future, and will create a better 
future for all Americans.
  As we debate the merits of this budget resolution, we must not forget 
that President Obama inherited deep deficits and an economic crisis 
from the Bush administration. This chart shows the budget deficit over 
the years of the Clinton administration, and what the Bush 
administration did to the budget. The Bush administration left behind a 
$1.25 trillion deficit, a high unemployment rate, and an economy on the 
verge of collapse. President Obama came into office merely 2 months 
ago, but he has already successfully proposed the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act which will create or save 3.5 million jobs.
  The President's budget continues the path toward economic recovery 
and fiscal responsibility with many necessary investments in education. 
The President's budget expands access to college education by making 
the American Opportunity Tax Credit permanent and indexing Pell grants 
to keep pace with inflation and the skyrocketing cost of college 
education. The President also doubles funding for early Head Start and 
expands Head Start.
  The President's budget calls for improving and expanding access to 
health insurance and lowering the cost of health care for every 
American. The President's budget includes several provisions to improve 
quality and efficiency in the health care system, saving the American 
people approximately $300 billion over the next 10 years. The President 
believes that the only way to rein in the cost of government for the 
foreseeable future is to address the costs associated with health care, 
and this budget does that.
  The President's budget also ensures that the Nation honors and cares 
for our veterans when they return home by increasing funding for the 
Department of Veterans Affairs by $25 billion over the next 5 years. 
This increased funding will help the VA reduce their claims backlog and 
modernize and improve VA hospitals and facilities. These investments in 
the VA will help address the large influx of new veterans into the VA 
system from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

                              {time}  1100

  So, Mr. Speaker, perhaps the most telling feature of the President's 
budget is that it is an honest measure of where we are and of where we 
are going. The Bush administration used phantom budget tactics to keep 
the costs of many expensive measures out of the budget. Unlike budgets 
submitted in the past few years, the Obama budget honestly includes the 
cost of our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other items 
that we know we must pay for and have paid for every year such as the 
Medicare Doctor's Payment Fix and the Alternative Minimum Tax. 
President Obama's budget takes the necessary steps to put the budget 
back on a fiscally sustainable path once the economy recovers. The 
budget proposes to cut the deficit in half by 2013. Additionally, the 
President's budget proposes to restore the fiscally responsible pay-as-
you-go rules, which were critical in turning the budget around in the 
1990s.
  Many may claim that the President's budget will cause deficits, but 
those who advocate the problems with the President's budget fail to 
remind themselves that the policies that they, in fact, are advocating 
are the policies that got us in the ditch we are in today. What they 
forget is that this Nation had to endure 8 years of failed economic 
policies, which produced one of the worst recessions in 70 years, the 
worst job growth since the Great Depression, an increase in the number 
of Americans living in poverty, and an increase in the number of 
Americans living without health insurance.
  Furthermore, the Bush administration degraded the Federal budget's 
condition from healthy to weak, converting a 10-year $5.5 trillion 
surplus to more than a $3 trillion deficit--a swing of more than $9 
trillion over 8 years and an average of over $1 trillion a year.
  Mr. Speaker, these policies have failed. It is time to turn to the 
policies that work. The President's budget does just that. As a member 
of the House Budget Committee, we look forward to Wednesday's markup to 
ensure that the congressional budget resolution reflects the priorities 
of the President's budget.

                          ____________________