[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 9 (Monday, January 24, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AMERICA'S PRIORITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, at its core, the budget is a statement of 
America's priorities. It says what we as a Nation value. After all of 
the Republican budget-cutting promises that preceded and followed the 
recent midterm elections, we are finally seeing what the Republicans 
are really about, what they really value--press releases.
  Their whole legislative agenda since they gained control of the House 
has amounted to nothing more than Republican theater. The Republicans 
are doing the exact opposite of what they promised. They are offering 
no transparency and no thoughtful consideration of the budget in the 
Congress, and no job proposals. Instead, they are just offering a 
radical Republican wish list to appease their base.
  Sadly, the budget process is going to be just another backroom deal. 
Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin has been appointed to determine, on his own, with 
no input from the rest of the House, what the budget spending limits 
will be. If you care about openness and transparency, you're going to 
be disappointed.
  The Republicans said everything would be on the table, with increased 
input and debate among the Members. Instead, we're going to get a 
budget number drafted by one Member, and we'll be forced to accept it 
without a vote. If you care about fairness and democracy, you are about 
to get a very rude awakening. If you care about making smart 
investments where all Americans can benefit and prosper, you're going 
to be disappointed. And if you're a faithful deficit hawk who thought a 
Republican-controlled House would reduce the deficit, you've been 
hoodwinked.
  In the runup to the midterm elections, Republicans promised that if 
they won the House, they would cut $100 billion from the budget. They 
didn't have a plan, but $100 billion sure sounded like a good number. 
Well, it is now months after the election, and they still don't have a 
plan, no specifics, no baseline number. And boy, are they running away 
from that $100 billion commitment as fast as possible.
  The Republicans do have a list that includes over 100 cuts that 
completely disregard the economic and social impacts the cuts would 
have. Mr. Speaker, budgets are about values. They are a moral document. 
In general, you are either in favor of making smart investments and 
helping the less fortunate--so, you're smart and compassionate--or you 
demonize collective government and it's everybody for himself, laissez-
faire capitalism.
  The Republican Study Committee's list of budget cuts shows us which 
side of the values equation the Republicans are on. They want to 
preserve hundreds of billions of dollars for corporate tax breaks but 
take away student loans from tens of thousands of students. They want 
to keep building weapons systems that the Pentagon doesn't want, but 
they cut historic preservation. They want to encourage the off-shoring 
of jobs, but want to cut programs that help our exporters.
  Mr. Speaker, we are a month into the Republican leadership of this 
House, and we haven't seen a single move toward creating jobs. We are a 
month into the Republican leadership of this House, and we don't have a 
budget number. We haven't had a hearing, and we have no budget proposal 
that can be honestly debated.
  Cutting the budget is no easy task, and I strongly urge the 
Republicans to end the political theater and think about our country's 
values and priorities when it comes to laying out the budget. Let's 
have an open, fair, and transparent discussion of job creation. The 
talk of shifting all of the costs of Medicaid onto the States is 
foolish. You know the poor will suffer with that kind of a proposal. So 
let's work together toward a responsible budget that reflects that we 
are both smart and compassionate.

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