[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 447-448]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        NEW CBO DEFICIT NUMBERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 20, 2004, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the nonpartisan Congressional 
Budget Office once again confirmed that President Bush is the most 
fiscally irresponsible President in our Nation's history. Yesterday CBO 
forecast a budget deficit for the 2004 fiscal year of $477 billion, the 
largest deficit in history. Furthermore, CBO said the overall Federal 
deficit will total nearly $2.4 trillion over the next decade. That is 
nearly $1 trillion worse than what CBO forecast last fall.
  After the estimates were released, Treasury Secretary John Snow 
commented from London that the administration remains committed to 
deficit reduction, stating, ``Make no mistake; President Bush is 
serious about the deficit.''
  Mr. Speaker, who is Secretary Snow trying to fool? President Bush 
being serious about the deficit? This is the same President Bush who 
inherited a $5.6 trillion surplus from President Clinton. Over the past 
3 years, thanks mainly to three large tax breaks primarily benefiting 
America's millionaires, President Bush has presided over an $8.5 
trillion fiscal collapse.
  And our Nation's fiscal situation could get even worse this year if 
Congress continues to listen to President Bush and the House Republican 
leadership. That is because CBO's estimates only take into account 
existing policies.
  And just last week, during the State of the Union address, President 
Bush asked Congress to make all his fiscally irresponsible tax policies 
permanent. Last year CBO estimated that such action would cost the 
Federal Government an additional $1 trillion.
  The President also once again proposed partially privatizing Social 
Security at an additional expense of at least $1 trillion in extra 
funds over the next

[[Page 448]]

decade, and that is $2 trillion right there to add to the already 
gloomy deficit forecast. And this is not even including the $700 
billion the President wants to spend for a mission to Mars, the $50 
billion that the President will propose for the continuing war in Iraq, 
and the $1.5 billion throwaway to the far right in his party to help 
train couples to develop better interpersonal skills that sustain 
``healthy marriages.''
  Based on these facts, how can Secretary Snow say that President Bush 
is serious about the deficit?
  Let us be clear. It is the policies of President Bush and my 
Republican colleagues that have put us in this situation. Democrats do 
not control the White House. Democrats do not control the Congress, 
either the House or the Senate. And yet I would not be shocked if 
conservative Republicans do not come to the floor today and try to 
blame Democrats for the fiscal mess our Nation now faces.
  Clearly, Mr. Speaker, President Bush now sees the huge budget deficit 
as a threat to his reelection campaign, and that is why he vowed to cut 
the deficit in half over the next 5 years during his State of the Union 
address last week. But we might be asking ourselves how the President 
plans to cut the deficit in half with the more than $2 trillion in tax 
cuts and other new spending he wants Congress to approve this year. The 
President and Republicans will say holding down domestic spending to 1 
percent during the next year will put a huge dent in the deficit, but 
that is simply not the case, considering that domestic spending only 
amounts to 17 percent of all the Federal spending expected this year.
  The bottom line, Mr. Speaker: The fiscal record of the Bush 
administration and congressional Republicans is clear. As long as 
Republicans control the Federal budget, our Nation's fiscal future is 
seriously in question; and in order to prevent a total fiscal collapse, 
it is time for President Bush and my Republican colleagues to face 
reality and repeal the President's tax cuts for the very wealthiest 
Americans.
  It is time President Bush and congressional Republicans stand with 
our Nation's children, who will be forced to bear the brunt of the cost 
of their fiscal irresponsibility. It is time the President and 
congressional Republicans stand with our Nation's seniors and baby 
boomers that need Social Security and Medicare strengthened and not 
raided.
  Yesterday's CBO report should serve as a wake-up call to Washington 
Republicans. And let us hope they finally listen to the alarms before 
this mess gets even worse.

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