[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 18, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H1727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Mrs. Bustos) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BUSTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition of the anti-
middle class budget introduced yesterday by the House Republicans.
  I view a budget as a statement of priorities. Where we allocate our 
resources is a clear demonstration that we value our priorities as a 
nation. This budget moves the middle class backward, hurts families 
across my region, the State of Illinois, and in our Nation.
  Their budget makes deep cuts to investments in education, such as 
Pell grants. I view education as a long-term down payment not only for 
the lives of individual students and families, but for the future of 
our country.
  Last week, I toured the region of our State that I am privileged to 
represent, and I spoke with community college students about programs 
that help make college affordable and accessible to them. I spoke with 
a young lady named Annalea, who attends Spoon River College in Canton, 
Illinois.
  Annalea is one of eight children in her family. She has been raised 
by a single mother. Her father was addicted to drugs and left their 
family in debt. She is a full-time community college student and also 
works 38 hours a week as a cashier at a local grocery store. Her family 
relies on her income to help make ends meet. She depends on Pell grants 
and student loans to finance her education, which she knows is a path 
for a better life ahead.
  Annalea is studying psychology so she can one day work as a school 
psychologist and help other students with the same kind of problems 
that she has had to go through herself. She knows that access to 
education is a key pathway to success for her and other students in our 
region, throughout our State and throughout our Nation. She wants to 
give back to the community that has given her an opportunity to move 
beyond the circumstances in which she was born.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to invest in students like Annalea and the 
future of our communities, not slash spending on our young people's 
futures. Let's stop pulling the rug from underneath our students and 
saddling them with a lifetime of debt. We need a budget that invests in 
working families and in the middle class and creates opportunity for 
all to succeed in today's economy.
  That is why I am leading what I would call a commonsense approach to 
give more flexibility to Pell grant recipients so students can take 
advantage of this program year round. Many of those who would benefit 
most are nontraditional students who want to complete their courses 
faster so they can get back into the workforce and also with smaller 
student loan debt.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues, both Democrats and 
Republicans, to join with me and support our young people, our 
students, and the economic well-being of our communities by opposing 
these shortsighted cuts to investments in our young people.

                          ____________________