[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 56 (Friday, April 15, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E730-E731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012

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                               speech of

                           HON. RUSS CARNAHAN

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H. Con. Res. 34) 
     establishing the budget for the United States Government for 
     fiscal year 2012 and setting forth appropriate budgetary 
     levels for fiscal years 2013 through 2021:

  Mr. CARNAHAN. Mr. Chair, my Republican colleagues have introduced a 
bill to end Medicare as we know it in order to pay for tax giveaways to 
millionaires and profitable companies.
  Listening to the President's speech yesterday, and to my colleagues 
on the floor today, I'm convinced that this debate is about no less 
than the values we hold as Americans. As the President said, the 
Republican budget is less about reducing the deficit than it is about 
changing the basic social compact in America.
  Do we want to live in an America where opportunity is snatched away 
from young people who want an education, or one where any student who 
works hard enough can find a way to succeed?
  Do we want to live in an America where our seniors can retire with 
dignity after a lifetime of hard work, or one where the elderly must 
ask their children for the spare room they might not even have to give?
  Much of what the President has proposed has yet to be fleshed out in 
detail, and I hope

[[Page E731]]

we can come together to develop a serious budget plan.
  But for now, let us debate the values underpinning this discussion--
the fundamental choice between a vision that offers extreme ideology, 
out-of-touch with the everyday struggles and hopes of American 
families, versus one that offers a path to future competitiveness in 
the global economy, and a renewed opportunity to achieve the American 
Dream.
  I know which one I'll choose.

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