[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 3, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S712-S713]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday the President of the United 
States released his budget. Unfortunately, it looks like the same old 
failed, top-down policies of the past. It is a government-knows-best 
approach that clings to more taxes, more spending, and bigger 
government. And it is exactly what the American people don't need.
  If the past 6 years have demonstrated anything, it is that big 
government doesn't work. Six years of big-government policies have left 
the American people struggling.
  Even the Vice President of the United States admits it. Speaking at 
the House Democrats' retreat last week, Vice President Biden said:

       To state the obvious, the past six years have been really, 
     really hard for this country.

  That is the truth. The recession officially ended more than 5 years 
ago, but the recovery has been weak and sluggish. Economic growth has 
lagged far behind the pace of other recoveries.
  By this point in the Reagan recovery, the economy had created a 
staggering 11.8 million more private sector jobs than we have created 
since the recession ended.
  Wage growth has remained stagnant under the Obama administration, 
while prices have risen. The average family health insurance premium 
has increased by over $3,000 since the President's health care law was 
passed. Household income has declined by more than $2,000 over the past 
6 years. And too many Americans are unemployed or trapped in part-time 
jobs because they can't find full-time employment.
  Over the past 6 years, middle-class families have had to work harder 
and harder just to stay in place. Getting ahead has started to seem 
like an impossible dream.
  Republicans are committed to changing that. Providing relief to the 
middle class is the priority of America's new Congress. We intend to do 
it by eliminating the top-down, big-government policies of the past few 
years and replacing them with a new path focused on growing the economy 
from the ground up.
  If big government programs tend to assume one thing, it is that 
government knows best. The government decides what it thinks you need, 
and then it makes you pay for it.
  Well, Republicans don't believe government knows best. We believe the 
American people know best. And our goal is to get government off the 
backs of American families. We want to eliminate burdensome government 
programs and regulations and allow Americans to keep more of their 
hard-earned dollars. We want to leave Americans free to make the best 
decisions for their families about health care, about housing, and 
about everything in between. We want to make sure Americans live in an 
economy that provides the resources and opportunities they need to 
support their families and achieve their dreams. That is what we mean 
by fighting for people, not government, and we have already gotten 
started.
  Senate Republicans just passed legislation to approve the Keystone XL 
Pipeline. This project is a win-win for Americans. It would support 
42,000 jobs during construction. It would invest billions in the 
economy. It would bring in millions in revenue to State and local 
governments.
  In my home State of South Dakota alone, the pipeline would bring in 
$20 million in tax revenue. That is a lot of funding for local 
priorities such as schools and teachers, law enforcement, roads, and 
bridges.
  Finally, the Keystone Pipeline would substantially reduce our 
reliance on oil from unstable countries such as Russia, Venezuela, and 
Iran. That would be good news for American families' energy bills.
  In addition to legislation to approve Keystone, Republicans have a 
number of other job-creating bills on the agenda.
  The House of Representatives has already taken up legislation to make 
it easier for employers to hire veterans by exempting new veteran hires 
from ObamaCare's burdensome employer mandate. House Republicans have 
also taken up legislation to fix ObamaCare's 30-hour workweek rule, 
which is currently cutting workers' hours and wages by making it more 
difficult for employers to create or maintain full-time positions.
  Republicans will also be releasing our own budget in the next few 
weeks, and it will be very different from President Obama's. First of 
all, our budget is going to balance. The President's budget never 
balances--ever--and that is not a sustainable path for our country. 
Families have to balance their budgets. They don't have a choice. The 
Federal Government should be no different.
  The President tends to act as if the Federal Government is different, 
as if the fact that his new government programs have good intentions 
means he can somehow ignore the fact that the country can't afford 
them. But the Federal Government is just like any family or business or 
organization. If its budget isn't balanced, bad things happen.
  Right now, the Federal Government is in debt to the tune of $18.1 
trillion. That number is so large that it is practically unfathomable.
  To put it in perspective, 18.1 trillion people are more than 2,540 
times the total population of the Earth; 18.1 trillion miles is the 
distance to the Moon and back--almost 38 million times.
  Needless to say, a debt that big is not a good thing--and the 
President's budget would keep adding to it. In fact, it would add 
another $8.5 trillion to the debt. That is not good news for future 
generations who will have to pay down the bills our generation is 
racking up.
  Republicans' budget will balance. It will take aim at out-of-control 
Federal spending and address our massive Federal debt. Our budget will 
also cut waste to make the government more efficient, effective, and 
accountable to the American people. There is no excuse for wasting 
Americans' money on ineffective and duplicative programs.
  The President's budget is about the past. Republicans' budget will be 
about the future. The American people sent a clear message in November 
that they were tired of the status quo in Washington. They were tired 
of gridlock. They were tired of the same old top-down, government-
knows-best approach to governing.
  Well, Republicans heard them. And since we took control of Congress a 
month ago, we have focused on living up to the trust the American 
people placed in us. We have gotten Washington working again.
  In just 1 month, we have held more amendment votes than Democrats 
held in an entire year. Committees are back up and running, and 
Republicans and Democrats are getting the chance to make their 
constituents' voices heard.
  We have passed job-creating legislation, and we are going to keep 
passing more. We are going to put forward the kind of budget the 
American people are looking for: a budget that balances, a

[[Page S713]]

budget that targets wasteful Washington spending, and a budget that 
starts to address the massive debt that has accumulated under the Obama 
administration.
  President Obama has a choice: He can continue to put forward the 
failed policies his budget offers, or he can move away from these 
policies and work with Republicans to start cleaning up the debt and 
getting government off the backs of the American people. We hope he 
will choose to work with us.
  But whatever he chooses, though, Republicans will continue this 
Congress as we have begun: by getting Washington working again for 
American families.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I wish to join in the comments from my 
able and learned colleague from South Dakota to talk about what 
happened when the President yesterday released his budget for the next 
fiscal year.
  I agree with my colleague from South Dakota that the President's 
spending is absolutely astonishing. The President wants to spend $4 
trillion in 2016. That is $1 billion 4,000 times. Nobody has ever seen 
a budget that big before.
  The New York Times ran an article right after the budget came out 
yesterday with the headline ``Liberal aspirations, set out as a 
budget.'' The article said:

       President Obama presented a budget on Monday that is more 
     utopian vision than pragmatic blueprint.

  The American people don't want a utopian vision. They want 
responsible leadership--responsible leadership that understands their 
needs and the challenges people face every day.
  So far this year, all we have seen from the President is a list of 
ways he wants to spend taxpayers' hard-earned dollars. These ideas are 
so unrealistic, there has been no sign that the President actually 
wants to get anything done for the rest of his term. If the President 
wanted to get something done, what he would do is write a budget that 
spends a reasonable amount of money in a responsible way. If he wanted 
to get something done, he would offer responsible tax simplification.
  Instead, the President of the United States asked for more taxes on 
hard-working American families. That is what he did when he said last 
month that he wanted to raise taxes on college savings plans. Millions 
of people use those plans to give their children a better future. When 
even Democrats in Congress told the President it was a terrible idea, 
the President finally had to relent and drop his plan.
  Then came the State of the Union Address, and the President had more 
ideas for even additional new taxes. The Tax Policy Center analyzed 
those ideas, and they found that millions of middle-class families 
would pay even higher taxes under the President's plans. When they 
looked at families squarely in the middle of the middle class, they 
found that only about one in four of them would even get a tax break 
and, instead, twice as many families in the middle of the middle 
class--twice as many families--would see their taxes go up, and they 
would pay almost $300 more on average under President Obama's plan. How 
is that a good deal for hard-working taxpayers all across the country, 
for middle-class families?
  Another study looked at some of the President's other plans for tax 
increases. It found those ideas would lead to a smaller economy and 
smaller incomes. How is that a good idea for the middle class?
  Now we have the President's budget. Next year, he wants to increase 
spending by 7 percent over what Washington will spend this year. Did 
most Americans get a raise of 7 percent last year? Of course not. Under 
President Obama's economy, wages have been stagnant. Part-time workers 
are having their hours cut, their paychecks cut. Why? Because of the 
President's health care law. People are paying higher premiums, higher 
deductibles, higher copays for health insurance that meets all of 
President Obama's mandates but doesn't necessarily meet the needs for 
them and their families. President Obama still has not learned that 
every dollar Washington takes out of the pockets of hard-working 
taxpayers all across the country is a dollar they can't use for 
themselves, to spend, to save, to invest.
  In his budget the President sent over yesterday, he wants to add 
another $474 billion to Washington's debt next year alone--see what the 
debt is, and he wants to add it to the debt on top of that. He wants 
another $8.5 trillion over the next decade. Every one of those numbers 
is right there in his budget, and every one of them is bad news for 
hard-working American taxpayers.
  Americans aren't asking the President to add trillions of dollars to 
Washington's out-of-control spending and debt. They know they are the 
ones who are going to have to pay for this new spending. The President 
may not realize it, but the American taxpayer knows it.
  The White House says it can add all of this new spending because the 
budget deficit this year, as they say, will only be $468 billion. That 
is how out of touch this administration is. The President sees a 
deficit of $468 billion--and that is adding it on top of the debt--and 
is declaring victory. He wants to celebrate by piling on more debt to 
spend on his priorities, not on the priorities of hard-working American 
families. That is not a victory.

  Over the next 10 years, under President Obama's budget, the debt in 
Washington is going to climb to more than $26 trillion. That is $75,000 
that each man, woman, and child in America would owe to pay off the 
debt President Obama is suggesting in his budget.
  We have all of that debt, and the President's budget does nothing to 
preserve and protect Social Security. There is nothing to preserve and 
protect Social Security so it will be there for the next generation. Is 
that really the legacy President Obama wants to leave for America's 
young people?
  At least the President will send his budget to Congress by the 
deadline this year. This is President Obama's seventh budget, and five 
of those he turned over after the legal deadline. Maybe the President 
should have taken a little more time to double check his math because 
the President's figures don't add up for the American people.
  President Obama's economic policies have led to far less growth than 
we would have had following the recession. According to the latest 
numbers released on Friday, our economy grew by just 2.4 percent last 
year. That is not really what it should be, not for our country. We 
have tried President Obama's ideas for the last 6 years, and they have 
failed. They have failed the American people. This budget is more of 
the same ideas--more middle-class taxes, more spending, more debt. And 
Democrats in Congress didn't even offer a budget the past few years.
  Republicans are ready to do the work of passing a responsible budget. 
We are going to pass a budget with commonsense spending that fits 
America's priorities, not Washington and President Obama's priorities. 
We will pass a budget that actually helps middle-class families thrive 
and our economy grow. We will pass a budget that takes control of 
Washington spending and starts to bring down President Obama's massive 
debt. Republicans in Congress understand that governing responsibly 
begins with budgeting responsibly. Instead of more new spending that 
middle-class, hard-working American families can't afford, we will 
balance the budget. We will cut waste and support programs that deliver 
real results.
  That is what the President should have done. What he should have done 
is shown real leadership, not just more utopian vision. The President 
missed his chance to lead. Republicans will produce a budget that 
focuses on jobs, economic growth, and opportunity for all Americans.
  I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sullivan). The Senator from Louisiana.

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