[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4843-4844]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   THE BUDGET RESOLUTION AND CHILDREN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, when I look at the Republican budget that 
was passed today, it is clear to me who is taking care of the 
billionaires in this Nation. But I want to know who is taking care of 
our children.
  The Republican budget resolution passed today puts children and their 
needs behind a $2 trillion tax cut that gives 44 percent of the benefit 
to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. In fact, a third of our 
children are part of families that would receive zero benefit from the 
proposed tax cut.
  Let me say that again, one-third of all American children live in 
families that would receive nothing from the Republican tax cut. 
Nothing.
  In my State of California alone, 1.7 million middle- and low-income 
families would not see a single cent from the expensive Republican tax 
plan; that is more than a third of the families in our State.
  In recent months, we have heard the Republicans talk about helping 
children. I think it is time the Republicans put their promises to 
children in their budget.
  The Republican budget does not fulfill their promise to leave no 
child behind, instead it leaves millions of children behind, behind in 
terms of reduced funding for childcare, reduced in terms of cuts to 
juvenile justice programs and behind in terms of educational dollars.
  Mr. Speaker, last week the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Children, 
which I chair, released a report on how the President's budget 
blueprint shortchanges our children. The Republican budget mirrors the 
President's budget and is equally negative for our kids.
  In fact, the Children's Task Force found that the Republican budget 
proposal spends so much of their tax cut that to make ends meet, the 
class size reduction initiative would have to be eliminated, funding 
for after-school programs would have to be frozen, child care for 
50,000 low-income children would be cut, and $145 million could be cut 
from Head Start resulting in 25,000 fewer children and their families 
receiving Head Start services in the year 2002. This is not acceptable.
  The Republican budget could reduce funds for maternal and child 
health programs, as well as those that I listed before, making it 
harder for low-income children to have a healthy start and a healthy 
future.
  Mr. Speaker, where is the compassion in taking money away from 
children and putting it into the pockets of the wealthy? Our children 
deserve better, Mr. Speaker.
  Let us face it, in today's world, kids are lucky if they have two 
parents living at home with them, and if they do, chances are that both 
parents work outside the home. They work hard. They commute long hours, 
and it is our children who are being left behind. Now is the time for 
us to be expanding programs for children, not cutting them.
  This Congress should be considering paid leave for new parents, not 
tax breaks for billionaires. It is time we got our priorities straight 
and show our children that we care about them, that we care about their 
future.
  Our children may not vote, they may not make contributions to 
political campaigns, but they must be part of every single decision we 
make here on Capitol Hill. The Democratic Budget Alternative that I 
voted for would have made a smart investment in our children's future 
by providing reasonable tax cuts so that they are aimed at the families 
who needed it the most. It would have protected Social Security and 
Medicare, improved school and, most importantly, paid down the national 
debt for the future of our children.
  Mr. Speaker, the Democratic Alternative would have made good on 
promises to leave no child behind. And our plan would also have moved 
all children forward, forward toward a bright future. The bottom line 
is that the Republican budget's math does not add up.
  Once they have subtracted $2 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy, 
the remainder is much too small to divide sufficiently among programs 
that matter to our children.
  Children may only be 25 percent of our population, Mr. Speaker, but 
they are 100 percent of our future.
  The fact is, America's children are America's future. This Republican 
budget places both at risk.

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