[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 25, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS AND CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS BUDGET 
                              ALTERNATIVES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 25, 2015

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, in developing the Democratic alternative 
budget, we sought and received input from all parts of our Democratic 
Caucus. The result is a budget that I believe reflects the values and 
priorities of our Democratic Caucus, and the values and priorities of 
the American public. While no budget offers each and every idea we 
might include as individuals, the final product is a powerful vision of 
how to reward Americans who are working hard to get ahead and to 
promote economic opportunity for all Americans.
  Both the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the Congressional 
Progressive Caucus (CPC) budgets contain some important ideas and 
initiatives that are not included in the Democratic alternative budget. 
I believe that both are far superior to the Republican budgets on the 
Floor today.
  The CBC budget contains additional investments in education and other 
areas that I support and believe are important to our future. While the 
plan includes somewhat higher revenues and spending than in the 
Democratic alternative and the President's request, I support the 
increased investment and revenue levels it provides.
  The Progressive budget also contains many initiatives and policy 
changes I support that are not included in the Democratic alternative 
budget, including a 4 percent cost-of-living pay increase for federal 
employees to help compensate for years of pay freezes. I also support 
adding a public option to the ACA exchanges, a proposal that is 
included in the CBC plan. In addition, I support a financial market 
trading fee, and have put forward an ``Action Plan to Grow the 
Paychecks of All, Not Just the Wealthy Few'' that would use the revenue 
to provide more tax relief to the middle class and those working to 
join the middle class. The tax relief includes paycheck tax credits for 
American workers, as well as a number of incentives for apprenticeships 
and training programs and for employee profit-sharing and retirement 
savings. One of those incentives would use tax policy to leverage 
higher pay for hard working employees. Specifically, the CEO-Employee 
Paycheck Fairness Act, which I introduced, prevents corporations from 
claiming tax deductions for CEO and executive bonuses and other 
compensation over $1 million, unless their workers are getting paycheck 
increases that reflect increases in worker productivity and the cost of 
living. The action plan also includes a modernized and expanded Child 
and Dependent Care Tax Credit that goes beyond the President's proposal 
in important ways, including by making it refundable.
  Similarly, I strongly support putting a price on carbon, and have 
introduced legislation--the Healthy Climate and Family Security Act--to 
create a cap and dividend program to reliably lower carbon emissions 
and auction off permits to the first-sellers of fossil fuels. I believe 
it is important, however, to offset potential increases in energy costs 
for American homeowners, so my bill provides a dividend to every 
American. Professor James Boyce of the University of Massachusetts--
Amherst has calculated that this approach will leave about 80 percent 
of American families with more money in their pocket at the end of the 
day. This legislation has been endorsed by Bill McKibben and key 
organizations including the Sierra Club, the Chesapeake Climate Action 
Network, and Communities United (Maryland).
  In the case of both of these policies, the Progressive Caucus budget 
spends the proceeds on other program priorities. It has $2.7 trillion 
more spending than in the President's budget and the Democratic 
alternative, and $2 trillion more the CBC budget. The Progressive 
Caucus budget has $5 trillion more revenue over ten years than both the 
President's budget and the Democratic alternative budget, and almost $4 
trillion more than the CBC budget. This is in part because the CPC 
budget does not rebate all of the carbon tax and does not use revenue 
from the financial market trading fee to provide tax benefits for low- 
and middle-income Americans.
  While I support many of the initiatives in the Progressive Caucus 
budget, I believe we should use the revenue generated by a financial 
market trading fee and a price on carbon to more directly boost family 
incomes and assist those struggling to find work. Like Leader Pelosi 
and others who share many CPC priorities, I differ on some of the 
details of their policy changes. But most of all I am very grateful to 
the CPC for their significant contribution in the development of the 
Democratic Alternative and for their vision--which I share--of a 
growing economy with more shared prosperity.

                          ____________________