[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 27, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H1585]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REJECT THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET

  (Mr. CLEAVER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CLEAVER. You hear a lot about the Ryan budget. I've chosen not to 
call it the ``Ryan budget''--it's just my personal thing--because it 
becomes personal. So, when I criticize it, it seems like I'm 
criticizing a person when I'm not. I'm criticizing the Republican 
Budget Committee from which it came, and I'm criticizing it because 62 
percent of all the cuts in that budget will be aimed at low-income 
individuals and seniors. The Medicare program is going to be 
threatened, and the AARP sent out a notice to all of its members 
explaining what would happen to Medicare if it is voucherized.
  We are the only Nation in the history of planet Earth to give tax 
cuts as we enter and then are in the middle of a war--2003, 2005--
giving tax cuts in the middle of a war. Last year, the 22 largest hedge 
fund managers earned $22 billion, and they paid only 15 percent on the 
tax of the capital dividends. The people who are watching this pay 27 
to 30 percent.
  It's not right. We've got to reject this budget.

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