[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 18 (Friday, February 3, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H456-H459]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BASELINE REFORM ACT OF 2012
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 1(c) of rule XIX, further
consideration of the bill (H.R. 3578) to amend the Balanced Budget and
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to reform the budget baseline
will now resume.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third
reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
Motion to Recommit
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is the gentleman opposed to the bill?
Mr. TIERNEY. I am.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to
recommit.
The Clerk read as follows:
Mr. Tierney moves to recommit the bill H.R. 3578 to the
Committee on the Budget with instructions to report the same
back to the House forthwith with the following amendment:
In section 257(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency
Deficit Control Act of 1985 as added by section 2, strike
``Budgetary'' and insert ``Except as provided in paragraph
(3), budgetary'' in paragraph (1) and after paragraph (2) add
the following new paragraph:
``(3) Maintaining current funding levels in real
(inflation-adjusted) terms for: pell grants and education
programs for students; health and all discretionary spending
that provide benefits for seniors; job, health, and all
discretionary spending that provide benefits for veterans;
and health research, including nih and research to cure
cancer.--The discretionary portions of budget functions 500
(Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services), 550
(Health), 570 (Medicare), 600 (Income Security), 650 (Social
Security), and 700 (Veterans Benefits and Services), other
than unobligated balances, shall be adjusted for inflation as
follows:
``(A) The inflator used in paragraph (2) to adjust
budgetary resources relating to personnel shall be the
percent by which the average of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics Employment Cost Index (wages and salaries, private
industry workers) for that fiscal year differs from such
index for the current year.
``(B) The inflator used in paragraph (2) to adjust all
other budgetary resources shall be the percent by which the
average of the estimated gross domestic product chain-type
price index for that fiscal year differs from the average of
such estimated index for the current year.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Massachusetts is recognized for 5 minutes in support of his motion.
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to this bill.
It will not kill the bill, and it won't send it back to committee. If
adopted, we will then vote on the passage of the bill, as amended.
When families in my district and across the country sit around the
kitchen table to try to balance their budgets, they know that costs
don't stay the same every year. They know the price of milk and gas and
college and health care all go up. Yet H.R. 3578, left unamended, holds
the budgetary baseline constant instead of allowing it to reflect
increases in costs, making simple inflation adjustments look like
increases in spending.
Ignoring increases in costs will dramatically lower program levels in
the baseline. Translated, this means that the priorities we support to
help sustain the middle class and those aspiring to it, the programs we
pay our taxes to support, will be cut as inflation eats into the
accounts set in the budget.
The Republican majority argues that America's middle class must make
even more sacrifices to address our debt. The majority's mantra is that
austerity alone, spending cuts focused only on nondefense discretionary
domestic spending with no additional revenue and without closing any
special interest tax loopholes, is all they think should be done.
Never mind that it's largely their policies enforced under the last
administration, aided and abetted by the then-Federal Reserve Board
chairman, that were largely responsible for the debt situation. Never
mind that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has since testified
that this was wrong, that his ``unconstrained free market'' ``winner-
take-all'' theory had never worked in his 80-plus-year life span. Never
mind that in the 1970s, we used to spend 5 percent of our national
income on discretionary domestic spending, like education, job
training, health, research, veterans, and infrastructure; but more
recently, we've already pared that back to 2.5 percent.
With this bill, the majority tries to balance the budget on the backs
of workers, middle class families, small businesses, and society's most
challenged. They refuse to consider a fair distribution of our tax
obligations. They even refuse to close special interest tax loopholes.
This bill, if not amended, chooses shielding the extraordinarily
well-off from any fair share of taxes over sustaining Pell Grants,
student assistance promising opportunity to families. It chooses
allowing hedge fund managers the benefit of especially low tax rates
over Meals on Wheels for seniors. And it chooses special tax credits to
the mature, extremely profitable oil and gas companies over providing
the security of housing for homeless veterans returning from duty in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
The austerity-only approach to addressing their largely self-induced
debt is not the smart response to our economy's needs. We need to deal
with our economic situation in a smart way, as attested by the majority
of economists from all across the political divide. We need a gradual
approach, balanced between spending cuts and revenue increases fairly
distributed. Those need to be appropriately targeted in amount, share
and time, not applied in bludgeon fashion like this bill on the floor
today.
Choking off the middle class by cutting spending for education,
health,
[[Page H457]]
jobs, job training, research, senior care, and our obligations to
veterans is shortsighted. Studies and reports from international and
national economists tell us that a vibrant middle class is essential
for the well-being of our economy; imperative for businesses so they
have customers for their goods and services; important to employers so
they have the next generation of innovators, inventors, scientists,
teachers, engineers, and a generally capable workforce; and important
to families and individuals as they seek personal and economic
security.
{time} 1100
We shouldn't need to argue the moral imperative of meeting our
obligations to those suffering from debilitating health conditions and
the families that support them; to the care of our seniors, especially
those aged, alone and poor; nor to our duty to our military forces,
especially the wounded and disabled.
Left as is, this bill is a step to undoing all the progress, however
slow, so far made in moving from the near depression caused by the
failed policies of 2001-2008. Simply cutting spending on the middle
class, at the same time businesses and families have been forced to
limit spending, and just as municipalities and the States are trimming
back, just adds to the downward spiral of fewer customers for our
businesses, less growth for our economy, more layoffs, and on and on in
a repeating circle.
Make no mistake, this bill, if not amended, makes the dream of post-
high school certificates or degrees or acquired job skills more remote
for many; makes the visit of a neighbor and delivery of perhaps the
day's only warm meal for seniors less likely; means research on
debilitating health conditions or diseases may be delayed, and the cure
of cancers a more distant goal; and consigns our veterans to longer
periods of homelessness and more difficulty getting the services they
need to get a job.
This amendment would allow the effects of inflation to be factored
into the budgetary baseline so as to avoid automatic cuts in purchasing
power that would otherwise result from this bill. Passing this
amendment allows us to at least start on a path to the kind of America
most of us envision, or at least it lessens the obstacles to that
America that are thrown up by this legislation in its current form.
Let's pass this amendment and start down a path that recalls what
makes this country exceptional, the notion that everyone, no matter
what economic or social condition one is born into, should have an
equal opportunity to reach our goals; to an America reflecting that its
people should shoulder and will shoulder any burden, suffer any
sacrifice, if shared fairly.
Let's pass this amendment and add back at least a modest degree of
balance and fairness.
Mr. Speaker, I would hope that for those who count on us to be fair
and just, or to make smart, targeted, and balanced approaches to our
complex challenges, we could at least do that.
I urge support of this amendment, and yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia is recognized for
5 minutes.
Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, this is another one of those commonsense
reforms that I'm so proud that this Budget Committee has brought to the
floor, time and time again, and will continue throughout the spring.
When I get back home, Mr. Speaker, folks say, Rob, why haven't you
gotten this done already? And my friend from Massachusetts has just
laid out exactly the reason why. These are politics of division, not of
unity. These are politics of fear, not of hope.
And I tell my friend, as he knows very well, this bill does not cut
one penny from any of the priorities that he mentioned. My friend knows
it to be true. Mr. Speaker, you know it to be true, and I say it to the
American people today, what this bill does is to shine sunshine on what
has been a budget process cloaked in darkness for far too long. And
both parties have been complicit in that, Mr. Speaker, and both parties
are going to unite today to change that history.
Mr. Speaker, do folks back home want to see over 50 different
duplicative job training programs plussed up year after year after
year, without any regard to their efficacy? No, they don't.
Do folks back home want to see education programs that have failed
our children time and time again plussed up, while those education
programs that are successful go needy? No, they don't.
Mr. Speaker, do folks want to see those income security programs that
are providing insecurity to folks back home plussed up at the expense
of those programs that can be a hand up out of poverty? I tell you they
do not.
This bill does one thing and one thing only: This bill provides
honesty in our budget process. And if this motion to recommit passes,
we will return to the days where confusion, rather than clarity, is the
touchstone of this budget process.
Chairman Ryan has given us an opportunity, with this legislation, to
bring the American people into this debate, to make the budgeting here
in this body look like the budgeting around the dinner table back home.
Are expenses going up in this country? They are, Mr. Speaker. Are
times tough in this country? Yes, they are. When we spend $10 today and
$12 tomorrow, the American people know that we're spending more and not
less.
We can continue to put lipstick on this budget pig, as this motion to
recommit would have us do, Mr. Speaker, but I encourage my colleagues
to vote ``no'' on this motion to recommit and unite to throw open the
doors of this institution and bring in budget sunshine once again.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is
ordered on the motion to recommit.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to recommit.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule
XX, this 15-minute vote on the motion to recommit will be followed by
5-minute votes on passage of H.R. 3578, if ordered, and adoption of the
conference report to accompany H.R. 658.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 177,
nays 238, not voting 17, as follows:
[Roll No. 31]
YEAS--177
Ackerman
Altmire
Andrews
Baca
Baldwin
Bass (CA)
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Boren
Boswell
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown (FL)
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Carnahan
Carney
Castor (FL)
Chandler
Chu
Cicilline
Clarke (MI)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly (VA)
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Critz
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
DeFazio
DeGette
DeLauro
Deutch
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly (IN)
Doyle
Edwards
Ellison
Engel
Eshoo
Farr
Fattah
Frank (MA)
Fudge
Garamendi
Gonzalez
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hanabusa
Hastings (FL)
Higgins
Himes
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hochul
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson Lee (TX)
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Kaptur
Keating
Kildee
Kind
Kissell
Kucinich
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lujan
Lynch
Maloney
Markey
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McIntyre
McNerney
Meeks
Michaud
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Moore
Moran
Murphy (CT)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Olver
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor (AZ)
Payne
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peters
Pingree (ME)
Price (NC)
Quigley
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Richardson
Richmond
Ross (AR)
Rothman (NJ)
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrader
Schwartz
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell
Sherman
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Stark
Sutton
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Tonko
Towns
Tsongas
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watt
Waxman
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Woolsey
Yarmuth
[[Page H458]]
NAYS--238
Adams
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Amash
Amodei
Austria
Bachmann
Bachus
Barletta
Barrow
Bartlett
Barton (TX)
Bass (NH)
Benishek
Berg
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Brooks
Broun (GA)
Buchanan
Bucshon
Buerkle
Burgess
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canseco
Cantor
Capito
Carter
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Coble
Coffman (CO)
Cole
Conaway
Cravaack
Crawford
Crenshaw
Culberson
Davis (KY)
Denham
Dent
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Dold
Dreier
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers
Emerson
Farenthold
Fincher
Fitzpatrick
Flake
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Gardner
Garrett
Gerlach
Gibbs
Gibson
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Grimm
Guinta
Guthrie
Hall
Hanna
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Heck
Hensarling
Herger
Herrera Beutler
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurt
Jenkins
Johnson (IL)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Jordan
Kelly
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kinzinger (IL)
Kline
Labrador
Lamborn
Lance
Landry
Lankford
Latham
LaTourette
Latta
Lewis (CA)
LoBiondo
Long
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Lungren, Daniel E.
Manzullo
Marchant
Marino
Matheson
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul
McClintock
McCotter
McHenry
McKeon
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
Meehan
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Myrick
Neugebauer
Noem
Nugent
Nunes
Nunnelee
Olson
Palazzo
Paulsen
Pearce
Pence
Peterson
Petri
Pitts
Platts
Poe (TX)
Pompeo
Posey
Price (GA)
Quayle
Reed
Rehberg
Reichert
Renacci
Ribble
Rigell
Rivera
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross (FL)
Royce
Runyan
Ryan (WI)
Scalise
Schilling
Schmidt
Schock
Schweikert
Scott (SC)
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Stearns
Stivers
Stutzman
Sullivan
Terry
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Turner (NY)
Upton
Walberg
Walden
Walsh (IL)
Webster
West
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Wolf
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
Young (IN)
NOT VOTING--17
Burton (IN)
Cardoza
Carson (IN)
Filner
Fortenberry
Hahn
Heinrich
Hinchey
Issa
Mack
Paul
Polis
Ruppersberger
Shuler
Sires
Speier
Turner (OH)
{time} 1129
Mrs. MALONEY, Messrs. COHEN, LEVIN, and CROWLEY changed their vote
from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the motion to recommit was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Stated for:
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall 31, I was away from the Capitol
due to prior commitments to my constituents. Had I been present, I
would have voted ``yea.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 235,
nays 177, not voting 20, as follows:
[Roll No. 32]
YEAS--235
Adams
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Amash
Amodei
Austria
Bachmann
Bachus
Barletta
Barrow
Bartlett
Barton (TX)
Bass (NH)
Benishek
Berg
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Brooks
Broun (GA)
Buchanan
Bucshon
Buerkle
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canseco
Cantor
Capito
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Coble
Coffman (CO)
Cole
Conaway
Cravaack
Crawford
Crenshaw
Culberson
Davis (KY)
Denham
Dent
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Dold
Dreier
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers
Emerson
Farenthold
Fincher
Fitzpatrick
Flake
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Foxx
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Gardner
Garrett
Gerlach
Gibbs
Gibson
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Green, Gene
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Grimm
Guinta
Guthrie
Hall
Hanna
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Heck
Hensarling
Herger
Herrera Beutler
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurt
Jenkins
Johnson (IL)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Jordan
Kelly
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kinzinger (IL)
Kline
Labrador
Lamborn
Lance
Landry
Lankford
Latham
LaTourette
Latta
Lewis (CA)
LoBiondo
Long
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Lungren, Daniel E.
Manzullo
Marchant
Marino
Matheson
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul
McClintock
McCotter
McHenry
McIntyre
McKeon
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
Meehan
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Myrick
Neugebauer
Noem
Nugent
Nunes
Nunnelee
Olson
Palazzo
Paulsen
Pearce
Pence
Petri
Pitts
Platts
Poe (TX)
Pompeo
Posey
Price (GA)
Quayle
Reed
Rehberg
Reichert
Renacci
Ribble
Rigell
Rivera
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross (FL)
Royce
Runyan
Ryan (WI)
Scalise
Schilling
Schmidt
Schock
Schweikert
Scott (SC)
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Stearns
Stivers
Stutzman
Sullivan
Terry
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Turner (NY)
Upton
Walberg
Walden
Walsh (IL)
Webster
West
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Wolf
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
Young (IN)
NAYS--177
Ackerman
Altmire
Andrews
Baca
Baldwin
Bass (CA)
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Boren
Boswell
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown (FL)
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Carnahan
Carney
Castor (FL)
Chandler
Chu
Cicilline
Clarke (MI)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly (VA)
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Critz
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
DeFazio
DeGette
DeLauro
Deutch
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly (IN)
Doyle
Edwards
Ellison
Engel
Eshoo
Fattah
Frank (MA)
Fudge
Garamendi
Gonzalez
Green, Al
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hanabusa
Hastings (FL)
Higgins
Himes
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hochul
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson Lee (TX)
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Kaptur
Keating
Kildee
Kind
Kissell
Kucinich
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lujan
Lynch
Maloney
Markey
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McNerney
Meeks
Michaud
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Moore
Moran
Murphy (CT)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Olver
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor (AZ)
Payne
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peters
Peterson
Pingree (ME)
Polis
Price (NC)
Quigley
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Richardson
Richmond
Ross (AR)
Rothman (NJ)
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrader
Schwartz
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell
Sherman
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Stark
Sutton
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Tonko
Towns
Tsongas
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watt
Waxman
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Woolsey
Yarmuth
NOT VOTING--20
Cardoza
Carson (IN)
Carter
Farr
Filner
Fortenberry
Franks (AZ)
Graves (MO)
Hahn
Heinrich
Hinchey
Issa
Mack
Miller, Gary
Paul
Shuler
Sires
Smith (NJ)
Speier
Turner (OH)
Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). There are 2 minutes
remaining.
{time} 1135
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Stated for:
Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 32 I was
unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''
[[Page H459]]
Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 32 I was
unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''
Stated against:
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall 32, I was away from the Capitol
due to prior commitments to my constituents. Had I been present, I
would have voted ``nay.''
____________________