[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 160 (Thursday, October 5, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1332-E1334]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                     HON. ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 4, 2017

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the concurrent resolution 
     (H. Con. Res. 71) establishing the congressional budget for 
     the United States Government for fiscal year 2018 and setting 
     forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2019 
     through 2027:

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chair, I would like to include in the 
Record letters from Social Security Works, AFSCME, SEIU, and the 
Coalition on Human Needs.


[[Page E1333]]




                                        Social Security Works,

                                                  October 4, 2017.
     Hon. Cedric Richmond,
     Chair, Congressional Black Caucus, House of Representatives, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Richmond: We are writing to express our 
     support for the FY18 Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) 
     Alternative Budget. Your budget outlines responsible 
     priorities, including strengthening Social Security benefits, 
     and demonstrates the CBC's commitment to the best interests 
     of the American people.
       The CBC budget alternative is the complete opposite of the 
     cruel legislative proposals contained in the Republican FY18 
     House Budget Resolution. While the Republican budget proposes 
     cutting Social Security benefits and undermining Medicare and 
     Medicaid, the CBC Alternative Budget works to improve Social 
     Security and, more generally, our economic security, for all 
     of us, including seniors, people with disabilities, children, 
     and other vulnerable Americans.
       The Congressional Black Caucus clearly understands that 
     Social Security is a solution to a number of challenges 
     facing the nation, including our looming retirement income 
     crisis. Most workers--especially African-Americans--have seen 
     their wages stagnate. They need insurance against the loss of 
     wages in the event of death disability or old age, which 
     Social Security provides, as opposed to more retirement 
     income savings, which are a far less effective solution. 
     Social Security is the primary retirement income for 72 
     percent of African-American seniors; we must work to protect 
     Social Security benefits from any cuts, and work to expand 
     its modest benefits.
       The recommendation of the CBC Alternative Budget to adjust 
     the cost of living calculations by using the Consumer Price 
     Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) would be a great start to 
     strengthening our Social Security system. The current formula 
     for the Social Security cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) is 
     slowly eroding the value of Social Security's already modest 
     benefits. Seniors and people with disabilities deserve a 
     yearly raise that keeps pace with their actual costs of 
     living, which are ever increasing due to the cost of 
     pharmaceutical drugs and medical expenses.
       Thank you for introducing the CBC budget alternative. The 
     American people deserve a budget that fully funds vital 
     programs, and not one that makes cuts to pay for tax handouts 
     for wealthy Americans. We look forward to working with you 
     during the formation of next year's CBC budget alternative to 
     strengthen the proposal even further.
           Sincerely,
     Nancy J. Altman,
       President.
     Alex Lawson,
       Executive Director.
                                  ____

         American Federation of State, County and Municipal 
           Employees, AFL-CIO,
                                  Washington, DC, October 4, 2017.
     Hon. Cedric Richmond,
     Chairman, Congressional Black Caucus,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: On behalf of the 1.6 million members of 
     the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal 
     Employees (AFSCME), I strongly endorse the alternative budget 
     resolution proposed by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). 
     The CBC budget represents the true needs of our nation and 
     working families by supporting health care needs, basic 
     living standards, nutritional assistance, job training, 
     higher education and building better economic opportunities 
     for everyone.
       The budget decisions made by Congress each year are vital 
     to ensuring that the economy is strong and that our 
     communities are safe and prosperous. Unfortunately, H. Con. 
     Res. 71, the budget approved by the House Budget Committee, 
     promotes the same misguided, inequitable priorities as the 
     budget proposed by President Trump. The GOP budget sets 
     woefully inadequate spending levels for critical public 
     services and slashes $5.8 trillion over 10 years from non-
     defense discretionary programs and critical entitlement 
     programs. It hurts vital human needs to significantly boost 
     defense spending and provide massive tax giveaways to wealthy 
     individuals and corporations.
       The CBC budget sets a better course by investing in public 
     services that all Americans rely on, preserving and improving 
     the Affordable Care Act, cancelling budget sequestration 
     cuts, investing in infrastructure to create jobs and 
     strengthen communities, investing in education from the 
     cradle through college, targeting investments to eradicate 
     poverty, improving retirement security, strengthening the 
     right to vote and creating a fair tax code to meet our 
     nation's needs.
       The CBC budget embraces American families and promotes job 
     growth and economic prosperity. I strongly urge support for 
     the CBC budget.
           Sincerely,
                                                       Scott Frey,
     Director of Federal Government Affairs.
                                  ____



                                                         SEIU,

                                  Washington, DC, October 4, 2017.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the 2 million members of 
     the Service Employees International Union (``SEIU''), I write 
     in support of the Congressional Black Caucus's Alternative 
     Budget for Fiscal Year 2018 (``Alternative Budget''). The 
     Alternative Budget would make America's tax system fairer, 
     rebuild the nation's infrastructure, and invest in our 
     communities and children through programs designed to lift 
     millions out of poverty.
       The House Republican budget (H. Con. Res. 71) would cut 
     programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security in 
     order the finance tax giveaways to the wealthy and big 
     corporations. The CBC's Alternative Budget would require the 
     wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share, the 
     Alternative Budget would also invest $1 trillion into a 
     robust infrastructure program that would accelerate the 
     economic recovery and revitalize communities across the 
     nation.
       Furthermore, the Alternative Budget would invest in 
     community-focused programs that are designed to lift millions 
     out of poverty. These investments include restoring funding 
     to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), 
     expanding access to affordable housing, increasing access to 
     affordable and quality education, and increasing funding for 
     job training programs. Each of these provisions would focus 
     on rebuilding the middle class and creating an economy that 
     improves the lives of American workers.
       The CBC's Alternative Budget, along with the Congressional 
     Progressive Caucus's ``The People's Budget,'' are better 
     paths forward for America's working families than H. Con. 
     Res. 71. If you have any questions, please reach out to John 
     Foti.
           Sincerely,
                                                        John Gray,
     Legislative Director.
                                  ____



                                     Coalition on Human Needs,

                                  Washington, DC, October 3, 2017.
       Dear Representative: On behalf of the Coalition on Human 
     Needs, I strongly urge you to vote no on H. Con. Res. 71, the 
     proposed FY 2018 Budget Resolution, and to vote for the 
     substitute budgets advanced by the Congressional Progressive 
     Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, and the Democratic 
     alternative budget resolution.
       The Coalition on Human Needs is an alliance made up of 
     human service providers, faith organizations, policy experts, 
     labor, civil rights, and other advocates for meeting the 
     needs of low-income and vulnerable people. Our members 
     understand that the economic security of millions of American 
     families depends on building on the progress we've made in 
     health coverage, jobs, basic living standards, and ensuring 
     that our children are well-prepared for productive lives. But 
     the majority's proposed budget does not build--it breaks 
     apart our engines of progress. It will make our nation weaker 
     for decades to come.
       The most recent survey data on poverty in the U.S. shows 
     the biggest two-year decline since the late 1960's. 
     Refundable tax credits for working families, SNAP/food stamps 
     and housing subsidies have lifted multi-millions of people 
     out of poverty. The decline in the proportion of our 
     population without health insurance continued its decline in 
     2016, down to 8.8 percent. More people are working, and in 
     general, low-and moderate-income households have finally 
     started to make income gains.
       The budget advanced by the House Budget Committee would be 
     a dangerous backwards plunge, stripping trillions of dollars 
     from programs that work to reduce poverty and create security 
     and opportunity. Medicaid, Medicare, working family tax 
     credits, nutrition assistance, education and housing 
     assistance: these are just some of the services the budget 
     would massively cut. The budget takes trillions in funding 
     that supports economic security and progress and hands it to 
     the wealthy and corporations in the form of enormous tax 
     cuts.
       The primary goal of H. Con. Res. 71 is to allow huge tax 
     cuts to be enacted with only a simple majority in the Senate. 
     These tax cuts are claimed to be a critical element in 
     increasing economic growth enough to make the tax cuts 
     deficit neutral. Reputable economists are skeptical that the 
     proposed tax cuts would boost the economy to the 2.6 percent 
     average growth projected in the budget and acknowledge that 
     tax cuts to corporations and the rich deepen the deficit. 
     History supports this: the economy grew and unemployment 
     declined more during the Clinton tax increase years than 
     during the Bush era tax cuts. And the Kansas experience with 
     tax cuts is cautionary: revenues plummeted, with the tax take 
     in 2016 $570 million lower than in 2013, even after counting 
     increases enacted in sales and cigarette taxes. The economic 
     growth that did occur from cutting taxes was estimated to 
     bring in about $30 million, leaving the state very deeply in 
     the hole. The state legislature has recently reversed course, 
     unwilling to slash education budgets as much as the revenue 
     hole would have forced. They saw that they were weakening 
     their state. Congress should not inflict the same dangerous 
     lesson on the entire nation.
       We urge you to reject H. Con. Res. 71 because of its 
     central choice: paying for tax cuts that overwhelmingly favor 
     the rich and corporations with cuts to essential services. 
     Our nation faces major challenges: reducing disproportionate 
     poverty among children and helping children and young adults 
     to advance in education so they can meet the challenges in 
     our economic future, protecting seniors in their retirement, 
     and rebuilding communities. Both the emergency needs of 
     communities devastated by natural disasters and the similarly 
     urgent threats from opioids and other epidemics, decaying 
     infrastructure and inadequate public health and consumer 
     protections demand a vigorous federal response. Instead of 
     making these investments, the House budget would cripple

[[Page E1334]]

     the federal capacity to respond by slashing domestic 
     appropriations by 44 percent compared with FY 2010 levels 
     over the next decade and making similarly extreme cuts in 
     health care, nutrition, income assistance for seniors, people 
     with disabilities, and working families. In addition to 
     trillions of dollars in cuts and structural constraints to 
     basic mandatory programs, the budget would fast-track $203 
     billion in cuts to domestic programs over the next ten years 
     through reconciliation rules. Cuts like these would 
     recklessly weaken us; they are self-inflicted wounds.
       The proposed tax cuts will worsen inequality and reward 
     businesses that park their income offshore. Instead, Congress 
     should insist that corporations and the rich pay their fair 
     share. Please vote against weakening America, and instead 
     protect and expand investments as called for in the budgets 
     proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, 
     Congressional Black Caucus, and the House Budget Committee 
     Democrats' substitute. These three constructive alternatives 
     deserve your yes vote.
           Sincerely yours,
                                                Deborah Weinstein,
     Executive Director.

                          ____________________