[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 55 (Wednesday, April 1, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4111-S4112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, throughout this debate, Republicans 
have shown that this budget spends too much, taxes too much, and 
borrows too much. At a time when many are struggling just to get by, 
Democrats in Congress want to enact the largest tax increase in 
history, including a national energy tax that could cost every American 
household up to $3,100 a year. They want to double the national debt in 
5 years and triple it in 10. And they want to increase nondefense 
spending so much that the Government would have to hire up to 250,000 
bureaucrats just to get the money out the door. Let me say that again. 
The Government would have to hire up to a quarter of a million 
bureaucrats just to get the money out the door. This is not the type of 
job creation Americans have been hoping for, and this was not the 
budget Americans wanted. Rather, they are demanding that Republicans 
and Democrats work together to craft a budget that lets them keep their 
hard-earned wages, spend their tax dollars wisely, and does not saddle 
their children and grandchildren with mountains of debt.
  Republicans have tried to work with Democrats to pass such a budget 
by offering amendments that reflect the views of most Americans and 
soon will sponsor a series of amendments to prevent tax increases on 
individuals, families, and businesses. The junior Senator from Texas, 
for example, has an amendment that would make it significantly harder 
to raise taxes on small businesses. The President has noted repeatedly 
that small businesses are at the heart of the American economy, are 
responsible for half of all private sector jobs, and have created 
roughly 70 percent of all new jobs in the past decade. Republicans will 
propose an amendment by the junior Senator from Nevada which would make 
it significantly harder to raise taxes on couples making less than 
$250,000 a year.

[[Page S4112]]

  Americans are worried about tax hikes. They are also worried about 
the colossal amount of debt this budget would leave to our children. 
This budget proposes to borrow an equivalent amount of money in the 
next 5 years to all of the money the Government has borrowed from 1789 
to January 20, 2009. So the senior Senator from New Hampshire sponsored 
an amendment to require a supermajority to adopt any budget resolution 
that would more than double the entire public debt cumulated from 1789 
to January 20, 2009. The Democrats rejected that amendment.
  In other efforts to control debt and curb Federal spending, 
Republicans will offer a number of additional amendments, including 
another amendment from the senior Senator from New Hampshire that would 
take the first step toward the creation of a bipartisan task force to 
confront the Nation's long-term deficits; an amendment from the senior 
Senator from South Carolina that would help to ensure that Social 
Security remains a self-sustaining, solvent program; an amendment from 
the senior Senator from Idaho that would take the Democratic spending 
levels and try to ensure spending does not exceed those levels. 
Republicans will sponsor further amendments that would correct many of 
the other problems with this budget.
  Additionally, Republicans have resisted efforts to fast track major 
policy changes through reconciliation. The junior Senator from Nebraska 
has offered an amendment that would prohibit the use of this rule in 
connection with a national energy tax. Some Democrats said they do not 
support using reconciliation for this legislation. We will insist on 
having a vote on the Johanns amendment.
  These Republican proposals should have the support of Senators on 
both sides of the aisle. We should all want to cut the massive taxing, 
borrowing, and spending in this budget.
  The budget debate is always one of the most clarifying weeks of the 
year. Rarely do the American people get to see the differences between 
the two parties as clearly as they do during this debate. Rarely has 
the difference been so stark.

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