[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 53 (Monday, March 27, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2456-H2462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       WHAT DO WE HAVE TO LOSE: $54 BILLION IN DOMESTIC SPENDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include any extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?

[[Page H2457]]

  There was no objection.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, today's Special Order is going to be about 
the theme: What do we have to lose?
  That was something that you heard during the Presidential campaign. 
Specifically, we want to focus on what do we have to lose: $54 billion 
in domestic spending.
  Earlier this month, President Trump released his budget named America 
First, a Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again. After reading 
Trump's budget, I can't help but wonder: Is this truly a mirror of his 
campaign to put Americans first?
  The easy answer to that is ``no.''
  According to the Trump budget, America comes dead last. In fact, this 
budget proposal is all talk when it comes to helping U.S. students 
access education and well-paying jobs. One of the most alarming things 
about the budget is how it affects the education of students at 
minority-serving institutions.
  Mr. Speaker, HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 
were first created in 1964 to educate Black Americans excluded from 
segregated public and private universities, and this budget will 
perpetuate the inequalities that currently exist for Black students.
  Today, HBCUs continue to provide students--no matter their race or 
their economic background for that matter--the ability to receive a 
quality education. According to the United Negro College Fund, 70 
percent of all HBCU students rely on Federal grants and workstudy 
programs to finance their education.
  After Trump pledged to support and strengthen HBCUs during a meeting 
with the presidents of HBCUs in the Oval Office, the budget at hand is 
another unfulfilled promise. A recent letter from the president of the 
UNCF, United Negro College Fund, explained the complete elimination of 
the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, as proposed 
under the Trump budget. This would negatively impact more than 55,000 
HBCU students.
  Helping low-income students achieve higher education is very serious, 
and we know that these cuts would hurt. Proposed reductions would also 
hurt the Federal workstudy initiatives, and it would eliminate another 
26,000 students the ability to pay for college expenses or to improve 
their employment prospects.
  I knew a lot of students who worked under the college workstudy 
program when I was a student in college, and I can tell you just how 
critical that program is. For a lot of kids, that is the difference 
between going to college and not being able to go to college. Having 
that job on campus allows you to earn money, but stay on campus, 
affording you more time to be able to study and do other things that 
you need to do in order to be a successful student.
  Also, according to the Center for American Progress, the Trump budget 
will hit minority communities the hardest. The budget also calls for 
$200 million in cuts to Federal TRIO programs, which help low-income, 
first-generation, and disabled students; and GEAR UP, a program that 
helps prepare low-income middle and high school students for college.
  It shouldn't be any surprise to us that President Trump would want to 
gut funding to help disabled students succeed. We saw this sort of 
nastiness on the campaign trail, and we really do need to see how we 
can, again, boost these programs because they have been helping so many 
kids for a long time.
  I can tell you of someone who utilized a Pell Grant Program. I am 
sure there are many Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle that 
had to use the Pell Grant Program. Similarly, the Trump budget keeps 
the Pell Grant Program, but it cuts $3.9 billion in critical funding 
for many students.
  According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the Pell 
Grant Program is the largest Federal grant program. The same study 
found that the program sends up to $5,900 to students and families that 
earn less than $40,000 a year and prioritizes funding for families 
earning closer to $20,000 or less.
  Again, if you are a low-income family, being able to utilize that 
money, particularly at that level--$40,000 and below, $20,000 and 
below--even if you were doing a little bit better than that, you know 
that that is not a lot of money, and that is why these Pell Grant 
Programs are so important.

  Pell Grant continues to be an important program that helps level the 
playing field for African Americans and helps to minimize student loans 
after graduation.
  A study by Brookings reported that Black students who graduated, as 
of October 2016, owed over $52,000 in student loan debt, compared to 
White graduates who owed approximately $28,000. By reducing funding, 
Trump is limiting a child's ability to achieve economic mobility and 
move toward the American Dream.
  I am going to ask that my colleague from the great sunshine State of 
Florida (Mrs. Demings), who is going to help lead this Special Order 
hour, talk a little bit about how important a lot of these programs are 
to her State. Her State has many great universities, including, in 
Tallahassee, Florida A&M University, one of our Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities that have produced so many great graduates 
from that school. Although the African-American students may not go to 
FAMU--but they may go to Florida State, they may go to Gainesville to 
the University of Florida, they may go to the University of Miami--they 
need this money in order to be successful.
  In the gentlewoman from Florida's work as a Member of Congress and 
her previous work in law enforcement, the gentlewoman works closely 
with families, with kids who are trying to pull themselves up and make 
a difference. I think that America would love to hear from the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Demings) just because she has seen 
firsthand, again, what these grants, this job training, TRIO, and these 
other programs mean to these students.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Demings).
  Mrs. DEMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I also rise tonight to talk about America 
First, the proposed budget of the 45th President of the United States, 
President Donald Trump.
  It has been said that a budget of a local, State, Federal Government, 
corporation, nonprofit organization, small business, even a personal 
budget, really defines one's priorities, one's values, one's vision for 
the future. The proposed budget gives us a look into one's vision, our 
President's, for the future of America.
  When I think about a vision for the future of America, I personally 
think of a vision that exceeds our wildest expectations. This is a 
vision where every boy and girl, regardless of the color of their skin, 
their gender, their religion, sexual orientation, where they live or 
how much money their parents have in the bank, has an opportunity to 
succeed, particularly in this country that we say is the greatest 
country in the world, and I do believe it to be so.
  There is a famous Scripture that says: Because of a lack of a vision, 
the people perish.
  I ask the question tonight: What is the vision for America under this 
budget?
  My colleague has so eloquently laid out that education truly is the 
key. It starts in education for higher learning. But what about 
secondary education, where every child should have an opportunity to 
receive quality education?
  We know that the budget proposed in America First cuts very necessary 
important programs that particularly hit the State of Florida, for 
example, the Teacher Quality Partnership, and Impact Aid support 
payments for Federal property, and international education programs. 
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers supports before- and after-
school programs where children are able to receive tutoring, learn 
about the arts and music, and receive a meal during those programs.
  Florida would be particularly hurt. Those programs are designed 
particularly for children that come from at-risk and poverty-stricken 
areas.
  In those before-school and after-school programs, there is a focus on 
reading and math. And those programs often offer literary services to 
families of children that participate in those programs.
  So back to the gentleman from Texas' question about what do we have 
to lose? In Florida, the overall graduation rate is 80 percent. But for 
African Americans, the graduation rate is about 72 percent, and lower 
for African-American boys. I can tell you, it is the lowest group.

[[Page H2458]]

  We can't afford to pull more resources from the Department of 
Education--a proposed budget cut of 13.5 percent, in the double 
digits--resources that have been dedicated to lifting up all children, 
but particularly children of color and children from low-income 
neighborhoods. In President Trump's budget, that 13.5 percent is about 
$9.2 billion from education.
  What is being cut?
  Not only the programs that I named, but about 20 other programs: $3.7 
billion in grants for teacher training to make sure that children not 
only receive the best education that money can buy, but also have the 
best, most qualified, most prepared, most trained teachers. Programs 
aimed at helping to ensure vulnerable children in low-income 
neighborhoods are able to succeed. They, too, really deserve a fair 
shot.
  These Federal programs were created to ensure that every child, no 
matter who they are, has access to education.
  This budget cut completely eliminates Federal Supplemental 
Educational Opportunity Grants. The name alone says it all, opportunity 
grants, grants that could offer need-based aid to around 1.6 million 
low-income undergraduates every year.
  What do we have to lose?
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, we have a lot to talk about tonight dealing 
with HBCUs, dealing with TRIO, dealing with these programs like GEAR 
UP, Pell Grants, jobs and job training, college workstudy.
  I want to invite one of our colleagues up, one of our leaders, 
Representative Jim Clyburn from the State of South Carolina. One of the 
demographics that often go overlooked in this debate is the plight of 
rural African-American students. Representative Clyburn, not only does 
he understand and empathize with the plight of the urban African-
American student, but he also understands again some of the struggles 
that the rural African-American student faces and how their ticket out 
of their hometown to be able to go experience something different is 
education. Many of these kids, Representative Clyburn will tell you, 
have never had the opportunity to get far outside of their hometowns in 
rural America.

                              {time}  1945

  These programs give them the opportunity to do so. So I want to 
invite our assistant leader to come up. He is a graduate of South 
Carolina State University, the Bulldogs, one of our esteemed HBCUs, and 
again, I just appreciate his voice on this topic.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. 
Clyburn).
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Veasey) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Demings) for conducting 
this Special Order this evening. I appreciate it.
  Yes, I am a graduate of South Carolina State University, but I also 
represent the University of South Carolina here in this body. And I 
just want to note that--with all that is going on around us, I want to 
say congratulations to the men of the University of South Carolina's 
basketball team for getting into the Final Four, and I am looking 
forward to, a few moments from now, watching the women do the same.
  I met, along with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
last week with President Trump, and we had an opportunity to share with 
him some of the fears that we have of his budget and what it would do 
to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
  As both the gentleman and gentlewoman have mentioned, I represent 
seven of these institutions. I said to the President that there is 
something that most people miss about the value of these colleges and 
universities; and I shared with him a little experience I had last 
December.
  While kicking off the annual Christmas festivities, I was having a 
conversation with a very good friend, who I have known for a long time, 
who is an outstanding cardiologist, recently retired from Charlotte, 
North Carolina, and we were talking about all the discussions that were 
taking place during last year's campaign about HBCUs.
  Of course, I said to him that I thought that there was significant 
misunderstanding about the value of these institutions. In fact, I 
wrote an op-ed piece a few days ago, published in the Charleston, South 
Carolina newspapers. I talked about a State official, an elected 
official in my State who made the comment that those students who went 
to South Carolina State, like yours truly, did so because they were not 
qualified to go anywhere else.
  Well, this gentleman, David Dowdy--I hope he doesn't mind me calling 
his name--David Dowdy said to me, as we talked: You know, when I left 
that little, rural, underfunded high school in Eastover, North 
Carolina, and got up to North Carolina A&T, I had to take remedial 
everything--simply because he went to an underfunded rural school.
  In South Carolina, of course, these schools have been underfunded for 
generations, and the State has been fighting a lawsuit for some 24 
years to keep from funding these schools properly and adequately.
  He said, when he got up to North Carolina A&T, he had to take these 
remedial courses, but he went on to become a very successful heart 
doctor.
  Now, I said to the President, after telling him this story: That is 
not an unusual case.
  All of us have heard of the astronaut, Ronald McNair. Ronald McNair 
is also a South Carolinian. He graduated from a little high school in 
Lake City, South Carolina, a town most people never heard of.
  Everybody talks about how successful he was as an astronaut, having 
lost his life in the accident, the Challenger. And when people refer to 
him, they always talk about him being a physicist from MIT. They never 
talk about the fact that, before he ever went to MIT for his master's 
degree, he went to North Carolina A&T for his bachelor's. It was there 
at North Carolina A&T where he was nurtured, and how he developed in 
those small classes, the remediation that he needed in order to unlock 
all that was within him.
  So I shared with the President, and he assured me that he had no 
intentions of cutting funding to these Historically Black Colleges and 
Universities. I applaud him for that, and I thank him for that.
  But I also said to him that I think it is important for us not to 
just maintain level funding but to make the kind of investments in 
these colleges and universities that are needed for them to get these 
young minds that have been disadvantaged, because of State action, and 
help turn them into productive citizens who will make significant 
contributions to our society.
  Now, I want to talk, just a moment though, about another part of the 
President's budget. You know, I served on three budget committees 
recently. In fact, I was on Vice President Joseph Biden's bipartisan 
group for deficit reduction. I also served on the Joint Select 
Committee on Deficit Reduction that everybody called the 
supercommittee.
  And then I served on the budget committees that negotiated the Budget 
Control Act of 2011, an enactment I am not all that proud of, because 
we put in this thing we now call sequestration, which has wreaked havoc 
on military installations and military spending, as well as 
discretionary programs of the government.
  Now, the hallmark of each successful budget agreement has been to 
increase defense spending by the same amount as spending for nondefense 
discretionary agencies. President Trump's proposed budget ignores this 
principle and would destroy many critical programs throughout all of 
the nondefense Federal agencies.
  In 2016, the bipartisan budget agreement added $25 billion in defense 
spending above the sequester levels. Importantly though, it paid for 
this increase with responsible revenue-raising provisions and also 
increased the nondefense side of the budget by $25 billion as well.
  For 2017, it is a similar story, where defense and nondefense are 
increased by $15 billion, both paid for responsibly. President Trump 
proposes to go far beyond these agreements, proposing for 2018, $54 
billion in increased defense spending, and he pays for it by cutting 
the nondefense side of the budget by a corresponding $54 billion next 
year.
  Mr. Speaker, there is a responsible way to provide our military 
relief from sequestration. I support doing so, as do my colleagues in 
the Congressional Black Caucus. This is not the way to do it.

[[Page H2459]]

  Much of the proposed investments will go to draconian immigration 
enforcement and an ineffective border wall. The President even has the 
audacity to propose ignoring the budget agreement for 2017, that was 
passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama over 2 years 
ago.
  What exactly does proposing $54 billion below sequester level caps 
for the nondefense side of the budget mean? What effect would it have 
on our constituents? The President's budget decimates funding for 
critical infrastructure in low-income communities, I dare say, rural 
communities.
  For example, the President proposes to eliminate $500 million in 
funding for the rural water and wastewater program in the Department of 
Agriculture. In my congressional district alone, this agency has funded 
drinking water infrastructure in poor, rural communities like 
Turbeville, Bowman, and Brittons Neck, that had previously limited 
access to clean water.
  The President also proposes to eliminate the Transportation 
Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER grants, which invest 
in road, rail, transit, and port projects on a competitive basis all 
around the country.
  In South Carolina, TIGER grants have funded the I-95/301 interchange 
in rural Santee, Main Street revitalization in Columbia, and upgrades 
at the Port of Charleston to the tune of more than $32 million. The 
resulting economic and community development have proved to be well 
worth the Federal investment.
  The President's proposal would also eliminate the Legal Services 
Corporation and LIHEAP. That is the program for low income home energy 
assistance that allows homes to be weatherized, and Meals on Wheels. 
This can only be seen as an attack on the poor and the elderly.
  These cuts would leave thousands of poor senior citizens unable to 
heat their homes in the winter and deny thousands more legal aid they 
need to seek relief from domestic violence and avoid homelessness by 
staying in their homes.
  The notion that Meals on Wheels doesn't produce results is totally 
ridiculous. In my district, Senior Resources in Columbia currently 
serves more than 500 seniors.
  Mr. Speaker, Federal funding accounts for 37 percent of their budget. 
Cutting those funds would callously kick 180 homebound seniors to the 
curb, forcing them to join the already 130 people who are on the 
waiting list. These are unconscionable cuts made with no regard for the 
most vulnerable in our society.
  The Congressional Black Caucus budget will take the opposite 
approach. By repealing sequestration, making the Tax Code fairer to 
increase the level of investment in critical programs, and targeting 
Federal funds to communities mired in persistent poverty through the 
10-20-30 formula, the CBC's budget responsibly funds our military, 
while also lifting millions out of poverty.
  I want to close by thanking the gentleman from Virginia, Congressman 
Bobby Scott, my friend and classmate, for pulling that budget together, 
and doing so showing the kind of compassion that ought to exist in 
every public servant.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the assistant leader. I really 
appreciate his comments, and I want to thank him for standing up for 
these students and everyone else out there who is trying to do 
something to help eliminate poverty.
  The gentleman's 10-20-30 plan was really hailed as something that we 
should all take a closer look at. It was a bipartisan approach and a 
look at poverty because it affected so many different people's 
districts. I just want to thank the gentleman for being an advocate in 
this area.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the great State of 
California (Ms. Bass).
  Karen Bass also is someone that really takes these topics seriously. 
She has always been someone who has delved very deeply into the budget 
and into domestic spending and how it impacts our communities. I just 
really appreciate her taking part to really share what we think is 
important as it relates to this budget.
  Ms. BASS. I thank the gentleman, Mr. Veasey, and also Mrs. Demings 
for their leadership in this hour.
  I know that our theme is ``What Do We Have to Lose''? That is 
something that the President, during his campaign, asked the African-
American community: What do you have to lose? Why don't you think about 
voting Republican this time?
  So I was a part of the group that Mr. Clyburn referred to that went 
and met with the President last week. Members of the Congressional 
Black Caucus Executive Committee met with the President. We went over 
to the White House to answer the question: What do we have to lose?
  As my colleagues who have spoken before me mentioned, we believe that 
we have a lot to lose. I think that the budget is a reflection of all 
that we have to lose.
  As my colleague, Val Demings, said, a budget is a reflection of your 
values. It is a reflection of where you think taxpayers' money should 
be spent. So, in the opportunity that I had to speak with the 
President, I mentioned to him that I was sure that he was aware that, 
in the United States, over 2 million people are incarcerated. In fact, 
we incarcerate more people in the United States than any other country 
on the planet.
  What I told him that he probably wasn't aware of was that this was an 
issue--a bipartisan, bicameral issue--that Members of Congress in both 
Houses were looking at because we recognized, over the years, that 
incarceration is not the solution to communities that are experiencing 
crime. We told him that there was a trend in Congress to actually 
reconsider policies that led to overincarceration. We told him that the 
Congressional Black Caucus was concerned about messages that we heard 
from him: one that is reflected in his budget; two, that was reflected 
in his new deal for Black America where the focus was on law and order.
  We told him that we were concerned about his proposals to address 
problems in poor communities, and our chair, Cedric Richmond, 
specifically pointed out that he was concerned about the way African-
American communities were consistently described as riddled by violence 
and as almost uninhabitable.
  We told him that we thought he probably wasn't aware that 95 percent 
of prisoners return to communities and that maybe he was not aware that 
many of these inmates return to certain ZIP Codes. If you have a 
community in certain ZIP Codes where a number of people have been 
released from prison without any services, then, naturally, you are 
going to have a problem with recidivism. We have people coming out of 
prison who then find out that they are prohibited from working and that 
they are ineligible for public benefits, including even a driver's 
license.
  In the State of California, we had a program in State prisons where 
we trained you to be a barber, but then we didn't allow you to have a 
license if you had been a prisoner. So we had to change State law to 
change that.
  We told him that, if we don't find ways to reintegrate people into 
society, he needed to understand that that was actually a contributing 
factor to crime and violence in many communities.
  When we went to the White House, we didn't just go to point out 
problems, but we also went to talk about solutions. Here is the concern 
when it comes to the budget. The budget that the President delivered to 
Congress so far is so general that we don't know whether or not some of 
the cuts to discretionary spending would include programs like the 
Second Chance Act.
  The Second Chance Act is a program that provides funding to States to 
address and reduce recidivism. The Second Chance Act has programs that 
work with inmates before they are released to address the root causes 
of why they offended in the first place. Many people in prison--a large 
percentage--did not graduate high school. So services that are provided 
by the Second Chance Act include employment services, mental health, 
substance abuse, housing, education, and family reunification.
  As we talked about a budget being a reflection of values, for the 
values to

[[Page H2460]]

me that will help the African-American community, we need to make sure 
that the Second Chance Act is fully funded. We won't know what is fully 
funded in the President's budget until he sends us more details in the 
month of May. But it is my hope that he listened to the presentations 
that members of the Congressional Black Caucus made when we had a 
meeting with him last week and that, when the budget comes out in May, 
we will see that the Second Chance Act is fully funded.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Bass very much for 
her comments and remarks. I really appreciate the gentlewoman always 
taking this subject to task very seriously and to heart.
  Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Budd). The gentleman has 26 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Evans), who has really made this, again, one of his priorities 
also. Philadelphia is one of those cities where many people have 
benefited by a lot of these domestic spending programs, including 
students like I talked about a little earlier. I would now like to hear 
from my esteemed colleague from the State of Pennsylvania, Mr. Dwight 
Evans.
  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his leadership, 
along with my classmate, who is also a very fantastic person. So I 
thank both of you for your leadership in terms of the Congressional 
Black Caucus and exactly what that means.
  My colleague from Florida said that budgets are values. Something 
that you may not know, I have spent 36 years in the Pennsylvania 
Legislature. Of those 36 years, I spent 28 years on the appropriations 
committee, and 20 of the 28 years as the chairman of that committee. So 
my colleague from Florida is absolutely correct that it is put your 
money where your mouth is, and that sets a tone for what you believe 
and what you think.
  The President's proposed budget puts America's middle neighborhoods 
at greater risk, tilting towards decline.
  What do I mean by ``middle neighborhoods''?
  Middle neighborhoods are the neighborhoods that are caught between 
growth and decline, neighborhoods that, with just a little love and a 
little help, you can keep those neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods are 
all over America. Those are communities that we should value. We should 
understand that affordable housing and stable communities in those 
neighborhoods are very important to the backbone of America.
  So these American middle neighborhoods are neighborhoods we should 
relish. We should value the importance of these communities. But under 
the proposed budget, they do not give our seniors, our children, or our 
working families a chance to get ahead--major cuts, Mr. Speaker, in 
funds for Federal student services, such as LIHEAP, grants for 
afterschool programs, community development block grants, community 
service block grants, and others to help families and help raise them 
out of Pennsylvania poverty.
  Last week, Mr. Speaker, I met with students from the Pennsylvania 
TRIO, Gear Up, and Upward Bound programs. President Trump's budget 
proposes cuts for millions of these programs, which would support 
first-time, first-generation college students through outreach to low-
income and minority middle and high school students.
  This is our future. This is our future. We are in the 21st century. 
We understand if we are to be very competitive in the world, we must 
leave no child behind.
  It is important, Mr. Speaker, to recognize that the investments we 
are talking about benefit all of us. If we want a strong economy, these 
middle neighborhoods are essential. These middle neighborhoods are 
where people grow and develop. They go on to college. They do well in 
school, and they hold our society together.
  The President's budget undermines and cuts the crucial investments we 
have made in our cities and our neighborhoods, neighborhoods that we 
all come from, neighborhoods where we all recognize the importance of 
these communities. We should not take this for granted because the 
reality is, as my colleague from Florida said, our values are where our 
dollars are.
  I totally agree with her because she is really telling us all that 
you can pay now or you can pay later. It is better to pay on the front 
end rather than the back end. It is better to understand that these 
communities are communities that help America be what it is today.
  The President's budget undermines and cuts critical investments. The 
President's budget does not give our cities the adequate resources to 
invest in our communities and moves our cities in the wrong direction.
  I think that the President, as my colleague just said earlier, says: 
What do we have to lose? Well, we have a lot to lose under this 
proposed budget.
  This budget is no new deal for Black America. As a matter of fact, 
this is no deal at all. We clearly understand that this means cuts in 
health care, education, affordable housing, and food nutritional 
programs.
  This is no deal because we understand that we must make investments. 
If we are talking about moving America forward and we are talking about 
making it what we know it can be in terms of America, we must make this 
investment. But we cannot make these investments, we cannot be talking 
out both sides of our mouths, and we cannot, on one hand, say what do 
we have to lose and then, on the other hand, do nothing in the budget 
whatsoever. So it is clear, Mr. Speaker, that we have a missed 
opportunity here.
  I am proud to stand as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and 
join with all of my colleagues, as the chairman of the Congressional 
Black Caucus has said, as being the conscience of the Congress. It is 
important to understand that we don't take that lightly. That is why we 
stand here today, Mr. Speaker.
  We stand here to raise the voice, to stress to people that we are not 
going to give up, that we recognize that we all have a responsibility 
and an obligation in this democracy, that this is our democracy and it 
is something that we should never take for granted.
  We have a lot to lose. We stand to lose everything that made our 
neighborhoods stronger block by block. So, Mr. Speaker, I stand here 
with all of my colleagues to carry this message to everyone that we are 
never going to give up--never, never, never.

  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate Representative Evans' 
thoughtfulness and his participation on the topic.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Maxine 
Waters), who is my colleague from Los Angeles County. The gentlewoman 
is known as a fighter in her district not only on these domestic 
spending issues and not only in her district, but throughout the entire 
United States.
  I am very happy that she is participating, and I know that she has 
been very vocal about those developments, dealing with the budget and 
dealing with other issues that affect us here in Washington, D.C. I 
really appreciate the gentlewoman's participating in tonight's 
discussion.
  Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the 
time that I have been allotted here this evening, joining with my 
colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus to answer the question 
that was posed to us by this President. I rise to answer President 
Trump's question to the Black community.
  Now, all throughout his campaign, President Trump declared that Black 
people all across this country just live in hell and fear each day, and 
we may be shot on the street. He basically said that we have nothing, 
our education is no good, on and on and on. Then he went on to say that 
only he can solve the challenges African Americans face.
  Unfortunately, this kind of talk is typical of this President: 
boasting, bragging, and making promises. This President will say 
anything and promise anything, of course, with no intention of living 
up to his promises. One should not believe anything he has to say.
  As a matter of fact, the African-American community understands very 
well when these kinds of empty promises are made. As a matter of fact, 
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the presidents of 
the Historically Black Colleges and Universities organized, put 
together, a proposal, and they went to meet with the President at the 
White House.

[[Page H2461]]

  


                              {time}  2015

  They didn't even have an opportunity to present the proposal. They 
were just ushered around in a photo op, and that was all that happened, 
without any real conversation, without any proposals being produced. 
They were treated in a disrespectful way.
  This, basically, is what I have decided we can expect from the 
President. His budget and policy priorities reveal his true intentions 
and what so many of us already know about this President. He really 
doesn't care about the issues facing the African-American community, 
and he doesn't care to learn about those issues or advance any 
meaningful legislation to provide jobs and economic opportunities for 
our Nation's most vulnerable communities.
  If you take a look at Trump's HUD budget, you find a $6 billion 
reduction. He wants to eliminate the Community Development Block Grant 
program, which supports our cities and various urban renewal projects. 
He wants to eliminate the HOME Investment Partnerships Program. This 
President wants to eliminate the Choice Neighborhoods program. He wants 
to eliminate the homeownership program and on and on and on.
  Just last week, this President tried and failed to repeal the 
Affordable Care Act. If that unconscionable bill had passed, 14 million 
people would have lost insurance coverage next year, and the American 
people would have seen billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts.
  Trump's empty promises do not end with the budget. He has also filled 
his Cabinet with millionaires and billionaires who don't have a clue 
about the challenges facing the African-American community.
  Trump's Treasury Secretary was known as the ``Foreclosure King,'' who 
profited off the backs of vulnerable homeowners during the 2008 
recession.
  Trump's Education Secretary knows nothing about public education, did 
not attend public schools. Her children didn't attend public schools. 
She was not chosen to repair public education; she was chosen to break 
it.
  Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who lied under oath before the 
Senate, opposed the Violence Against Women Act. He has taken hardline 
positions against our efforts to reform the criminal justice system, 
which disproportionately incarcerates African Americans. Of course, we 
knew about his background and his history and what he is known for, and 
that is discrimination, disrespect for African Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, my position against this President and his 
administration is clear: I oppose this President. I do not honor this 
President. I do not respect this President. He has disrespected the 
office and offended so many people across this country and around the 
world with his disgusting and indecent rhetoric against women, the 
Black community, Muslims, immigrants, and disabled Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, it is not just the African-American community who will 
lose under this President. It is everyone who isn't a millionaire or 
billionaire that stand to lose under this administration. I will 
continue to oppose him and fight him every step of the way.
  While I am talking about where he has put his priorities--and, of 
course, I think the budget really does reflect your priorities--he has 
reduced the education budget by 13 percent, or $9 billion less than 
last year; a $168 billion increase for charter schools, 50 percent 
above current levels.
  Let's take a look at labor. It reduces the budget by 21 percent, a 
$2.5 billion decrease from last year. Health and Human Services, 
decreased funding by $15 billion, the lowest in 20 years.
  It reduces funding for the National Institutes of Health by 19 
percent. For the Environmental Protection Agency, it reduces the budget 
from $8.1 billion to $5.7 billion. Housing and Urban Development, 
again, reducing the budget by just about $6 billion, or 13.2 percent.
  He claims he cares about small businesses. He reduces the SBA budget 
by 5 percent, or $43.2 billion less than last year. It goes on and on 
and on.
  Homeland Security, increases the budget by only 6.8 percent, to $44 
billion, even though he claims he cares a lot about the security of 
this country.
  What am I saying? I am simply saying that African Americans have 
struggled and fought, historically. Many African Americans have paid a 
huge price fighting for justice and equality in this country and have 
died for it. I don't have to call the names of Martin Luther King and 
all the others. We have paid a price. We have fought.
  But guess what? Despite the fact that America has not always been 
there for us, we have always been there for America. We have fought in 
America's wars. We have suffered discrimination. We have suffered 
isolation and undermining. But we stand up for America, oftentimes when 
others who think they are more patriotic--who say they are more 
patriotic--do not.
  When we fight against this President and we point out how dangerous 
he is for this society and for this country, we are fighting for 
democracy. We are fighting for America. We are saying to those who say 
they are patriotic but they turn a blind eye to the destruction that he 
is about to cause this country: You are not nearly as patriotic as we 
are.
  We not only have fought in America's wars, have stood up for America, 
have been there whenever this country was threatened in any way, we say 
now that this country is threatened with a President who does not 
belong there, a President who does not understand how this government 
works, a President who goes down to Mar-a-Lago every weekend and plays 
golf. He is not huddling with Members of Congress and trying to figure 
out how to form a consensus. Rather, he thought he could come in here 
and run roughshod over everybody. But that is how he works, that is how 
he acts.
  He is not good for America. African Americans know this. The Black 
Caucus understands this. And for those members of the Black Caucus 
representing our leadership who went to meet with him, they have laid 
out to him all of this, what our care and concerns are all about. But 
in the final analysis, we really don't expect anything from him. My 
mission and my goal is to make sure that he does not remain President 
of the United States of America.

  Mr. VEASEY. I thank Representative Waters for her comments on this 
very timely matter.
  Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 9\1/4\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Scott), my good friend, who is also a leader on education issues and 
domestic spending. I thank him very much for participating tonight.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank the gentleman for his good work on the 
budget.
  Mr. Speaker, the budget is about choices, and those choices involve 
arithmetic. Apparently, the Republican strategy on the budget does not 
recognize arithmetic. When you start with a deficit, their strategy to 
deal with the deficit is to increase defense spending and to pass 
massive tax cuts. That will not end up helping the deficit.
  As we have seen with the choice in health care, they made bad 
choices. Whatever you think about the Affordable Care Act, their plan 
was demonstrably worse. Their plan would increase the number of people 
uninsured by 24 million, bring higher prices and worse policies, but 
tax cuts for millionaires.
  What I couldn't understand was not what were the ups and downs for 
politics, but who was for that--24 million more uninsured, higher 
prices, and worse policies?
  Democrats will work with Republicans to improve the Affordable Care 
Act, but we are not going halfway and saying only 12 million uninsured 
and slightly higher prices and slightly worse policies. If we are going 
to have a policy to increase the number of insured, lower prices, and 
provide better policies, we will work.
  We can also produce a better budget. For almost an hour, we have 
heard the problems with the budget introduced by the President of the 
United States. The Congressional Black Caucus is not just about 
complaints. We have a budget, and it is a responsible budget.
  We make choices. The choices avoid those devastating cuts that we 
have heard about. The Congressional Black Caucus budget is realistic. 
It requires $3.9 trillion in additional revenues, but it outlines over 
$10 trillion in choices that could be made to come up with

[[Page H2462]]

that money, possibilities like canceling the Bush tax cuts. That is 
$3.9 trillion right off the bat. Over $10 trillion in total choices.
  First, with that revenue, we cancel the sequester both for nondefense 
and for defense. Then we make investments in the future of American 
families with investments in education, job-creating infrastructure, 
the environment, scientific research, and maintain a strong social 
safety net. In the end, we reduce the deficit by a cumulative amount of 
an over $2 trillion reduction in the deficit.
  So let's be clear. we are going to make choices with the budget, 
choices like we made a few years ago. People say a lot about the 
proposal by Senator Bernie Sanders and $900 billion for free college. 
Could we afford that? Just think, a couple of years ago, we passed, 
with one vote, an extension in tax cuts of $3.9 trillion. We could 
have, with the same amount of money, extended $3 trillion in tax cuts, 
and with the money left over, free college, but we didn't make that 
choice. All $3.9 trillion went to tax cuts. The $900 billion could have 
gone to free college.
  Make no mistake about it, we are making choices. This year, again, we 
will make choices with our budget: massive tax cuts, or we can focus on 
a better feature and produce a more humane and responsible budget. I 
would hope that this year we make the right choice.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, before I close out this Special Order hour, 
I do want to thank my colleague from Florida, Representative Val 
Demings, for participating, and I want her to just share some last 
words on this subject: What do we have to lose? I know she has a few 
more things that she wants to share with everybody.
  Mrs. DEMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I spent 27 years in law enforcement, and I 
realized early in my career that we cannot arrest our way out of the 
challenges that we face, that we have to address some of the social 
ills that cause decay in communities in the first place if we are going 
to make those communities better.
  In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson commissioned a group to look at 
crime in America. I would like to share just a short paragraph of their 
report. It says:
  ``Every effort must be made to strengthen the family, now often 
shattered by the grinding pressures of urban slums.
  ``Slum schools must be given enough resources to make them as good as 
schools elsewhere and to enable them to compensate for the various 
handicaps suffered by the slum child--to rescue him from his 
environment.''
  Mr. Speaker, I want you to know that we are still trying to rescue 
children that that particular child represents from their at-risk 
environments. If we are going to put America first, it starts with 
putting the American people first.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Demings for her words 
and inspiration, and I really appreciate her perspective, again. Now 
she is getting an opportunity to see this as a Member of Congress, but 
the 27 years that she spent in law enforcement, it gave her a bird's-
eye perspective on what happens when we don't invest in education, when 
we don't invest in health care, when we don't invest in things that 
help families uplift themselves and give themselves opportunities to 
pull one another out of poverty. I just want to thank her again for 
participating in tonight's Special Order hour.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a lot to talk about because we do have a lot to 
lose, and I thank everybody for participating.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, when President Trump 
spoke on the campaign trail, his message to the African American 
community was clear: ``What do you have to lose?'' Today, just 9 weeks 
into his presidency, we now know that in a Trump Administration, the 
American people stand to lose their access to robust medical care, 
jobs, and more than $54 billion used to fund critically important 
programs and Departments through the Federal government.
  President Trump's fiscal year 2018 budget proposal to Congress seeks 
roughly $54 billion in dramatic cuts to social programs and domestic 
spending in order to accommodate an equal increase in spending through 
the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs. 
His proposal is a poor reflection of the priorities that we hold as a 
nation and undermines--or eliminates entirely--many of the very 
programs that millions of Americans rely on the most.
  For example, the President's budget proposal slashes funding for 
education by cutting grants for after school programs and reduces 
financial aid for low-income students, such as Pell Grants. The 
Department of Housing and Urban Development will also see a thirteen 
percent--or $6.2 billion--reduction in its budget, which is reflected 
in the elimination of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 
program, the HOME Investment Partnerships program, and Section 4 
Community Development and Affordable Housing.
  I cannot help but notice that there is a certain degree of hypocrisy 
reflected in the President's budget proposal when comparing to what he 
has touted during the campaign. For example, the Department of 
Transportation will suffer significant cuts to programs such as TIGER, 
which has been an incredibly successful discretionary grant program 
used to fund projects of nation significance in communities all across 
the country. President Trump's budget proposal also looks to eliminate 
funding for the Capital Investment Grant program, which the Dallas Area 
Rapid Transit (DART) in Texas has utilized for many years to respond to 
the explosive population growth within my district and build up our 
transportation infrastructure. This moves our nation further away from 
the $1 trillion in transportation infrastructure spending that the 
President has proposed during the campaign.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot support the President's budget proposal in its 
current form. The cuts included in his proposal are irrational and 
ignore the dire needs of our people to bolster our transportation 
infrastructure, create jobs, and pave the way for greater economic 
opportunity for all Americans--not just a select few. President Trump 
also wants to slash taxes for the wealthy and our biggest corporations. 
He will pay for those tax breaks by placing the burden on lower- and 
middle-class Americans. Just months into his presidency, it is already 
crystal clear that the American people have a lot to lose under his 
vision for America and I am proud to join my colleagues in the 
Congressional Black Caucus to oppose these devastating cuts and the 
entire Trump agenda.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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