[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 5970-5971]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1200
                               THE BUDGET

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to enter into this discussion 
about the budget because I think it certainly is a worthy one in a time 
when our Nation has been attacked and is working hard against terrorism 
and to protect our domestic States from threats. We are at war.
  The reality is this is what our budget does. From fiscal year 2002 to 
2003, there was a 7 percent increase. From 2003 to 2004 it will be 
about a 3 percent increase, with about a 5.5 percent increase in 
defense and in homeland security; there will be increases in 
unemployment insurance because of the economy; there will be increases 
in Social Security and, of course, a big increase in Medicare because 
of the prescription drug benefit that the President is pushing. Yet at 
the same time, we do need to tighten our belts. That is the way to 
attack the deficit.
  I am glad to see that the Democrats are interested in the deficit 
after all of these years. What I would hope is that we can come 
together on a bipartisan, wartime budget and put the interests of the 
troops first, of the economy, of homeland security, of our seniors, and 
yet, at the same time, tighten our belts here in Washington within the 
government bureaucracy. I look forward to that process.

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