[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 17 (Tuesday, February 5, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         BATTLE OF THE BUDGETS

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. So in the middle of a busy legislative week, the 
Republicans are going to bring up a bill to require the President to 
submit a balanced budget. It would be good if first perhaps they looked 
in the mirror, because this comes from the same House Republicans who 
in the last Congress passed the Ryan budget which got great accolades 
from the right.
  Unfortunately, the Ryan budget, even with directed scoring, that is, 
made-up numbers, the pretend ``if you cut taxes, you'll increase 
revenues,'' wouldn't pretend to balance a budget until 2040--and that 
was after it did away with Medicare, student financial aid, and a few 
other domestic programs.
  Now let's get real around here. One-third of the deficit is due to 
high unemployment. We need a strategy to put Americans back to work. 
That requires investment--investment in education, investment in our 
roads, bridges, highways, transit systems, jetties, levees, dams, and 
harbors across the country. That would put Americans back to work. That 
would get this country moving again, not a bunch of fake bills about a 
budget that they have no intention of balancing.

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