[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 16, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H944-H945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REPUBLICANS' IRRESPONSIBLE SPENDING BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Tonko) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the 
Republican spending bill currently before this House. This bill fails 
to create jobs, deeply hurts our families and seniors, and responds 
with extremes at a time when our fragile economy can least afford it.
  I am committed to a budget that lives within our means while 
investing in the future and cutting our deficit. However, this 
irresponsible Republican spending bill hampers job creation and 
jeopardizes investments in American innovation, American education, and 
American infrastructure.
  That is why President Obama vowed today to veto the irresponsible 
Republican spending bill because it undermines critical priorities for 
national security and curtails the drivers of long-term economic growth 
and job creation.
  We must do more to focus on jobs, grow the economy, and protect our 
middle class, certainly, while responsibly tackling our Nation's debt 
and deficit. That is why I've offered 8 amendments to this bill which 
will protect seniors, protect energy innovation, strengthen our 
children's education, and most importantly, will protect and grow jobs 
as the fragile economy slowly recovers. We simply cannot afford to pull 
the rug out from underneath progress, not now, not when we are finally 
rebounding from the Bush recession, not with the extreme spending bill 
this represents.
  I refuse to take America back to the failed policies that sunk our 
economy. My first two amendments would restore funding from the cuts to 
the Social Security Administration to prevent its shutdown. The cuts 
that the irresponsible Republican spending bill propose in this section 
alone would raid $625 million from the Social Security Administration. 
This would affect the 53 million Americans who are collecting Social 
Security by furloughing every employee and closing the doors for a 
month or more. An estimated 400,000 people, mostly seniors, would not 
have their claims processed this year, creating a huge backlog and 
threatening the timely payment of benefits.
  My amendments would restore this funding because I do not believe we 
should use our Nation's seniors that have worked hard and played by the 
rules their whole lives to somehow painfully balance our budget. This 
is simply extreme and, again, painfully irresponsible.
  The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, is also cut 
in this irresponsible Republican spending plan by some nearly $400 
million. Those are cuts that are made on the backs of the low-income 
residents, seniors, the disabled, and those with children like those I 
represent in the now cold and snowy Capital region of New York, who 
struggle to pay to keep the thermostat set at a livable level. LIHEAP 
keeps those receiving help

[[Page H945]]

from having to make the heartbreaking decision about whether to pay to 
keep the heat on or to pay for food and prescription drugs. To pull the 
rug out from underneath our Nation's most vulnerable is both simply 
extreme and painfully irresponsible.
  My fourth amendment would maintain funding for the Weatherization 
Assistance Program and the State Energy Program. It is amendment number 
4 and is set up for a recorded vote today. I encourage my colleagues to 
support this bill. The State Energy Program yields $7.22 in annual 
energy savings for every $1 invested in it while renovating our 13,000 
buildings per year.
  The Weatherization Assistance Program helps low-income and elderly 
save over $437 on their annual utility bill, and decreases oil 
consumption by the equivalent of 24.1 million barrels annually. To cut 
these jobs-producing, energy savings programs that clearly work is both 
simply extreme and painfully irresponsible.
  I have also offered two amendments that would protect the Clean Air 
Act and Clean Water Act from being jeopardized under the irresponsible 
Republican spending plan. The Clean Air Act protects public health and 
safety and has saved hundreds of thousands of lives since 1970 by 
reducing air pollution by 60 percent, while the economy has grown by 
200 percent.
  The Clean Water Act protects drinking water for 117 million Americans 
and safeguards 20 million acres of wetlands and wildlife habitats from 
big polluters. Seeking to inappropriately legislate against these 
programs in a spending bill, the continuing resolution would threaten 
the air our children breathe and the water we drink. This is simply 
extreme and painfully irresponsible.
  My seventh amendment removes unobligated funding from Fossil Energy 
Research and Development and transfers these funds to the Office of 
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. This would prioritize our 
investments from dirty oil and dirty fossil fuel sources of the past to 
the energy of today and tomorrow, clean energy that would create jobs 
and make us competitive in a global market. Choosing to go sit out the 
clean energy race of today for the outdated energy sources of yesterday 
is simply extreme and painfully irresponsible.

                              {time}  1050

  My eighth amendment would restore funding for education and special 
ed to ensure our children and the future of our country have the 
resources they desperately need to compete in a global marketplace for 
generations to come. It prevents thousands of teacher layoffs.
  The irresponsible Republican spending bill cuts over $1.25 billion in 
education funding that goes directly to States at a time when we can 
least afford it. Balancing the budget on the backs of our children and 
their education is simply extreme and painfully irresponsible.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose the current irresponsible Republican 
spending bill before the House. It threatens to undermine our recovery 
economy and job growth.

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