[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3772]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       RESPONSIBLE BUDGET NEEDED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bonner). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, last month the President 
submitted to us his 2005 budget. This week, later this week, in the 
Committee on the Budget we are going to have a hearing on and mark-up 
that budget. Unfortunately, it is a 402-page document with one huge 
credibility problem. We are in the middle of a war, and yet it includes 
no war funding. It is a 5-year budget, but almost 80 percent of the 
cost of the President's new tax plan does not go into effect until 
after the 5 years after this budget. It finances a $519 million 
increase to veterans programs by shifting costs on to the veterans that 
this budget purports to help. It does that through the health insurance 
enrollment fees and co-pays on prescription drugs to the very veterans 
that we are supposed to be helping.
  It gives homeland security the largest increase of all the agencies, 
as it should; but it takes $800 million away from our local 
firefighters and our local police officers at the same time it says it 
is going to help these first responders. These are the first line of 
defense. These are the first responders, and we are taking money away 
from them in order to pay for them to do the job that they are supposed 
to do.
  It discloses that the Medicare prescription drug benefit costs $135 
billion more than we were told it would cost just 2 months ago. This 
unexpected cost of $135 billion totals more than the budgets of 
Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, HUD, Interior, State, and EPA 
combined.
  It calls for $1.2 trillion in new tax cuts, $65 billion in health tax 
credits, and $43 billion in other new spending; but it claims that we 
can cut the deficit in half by 2009. These are all new costs, new 
expenditures that this budget does not pay for.
  It is not credible, Mr. Speaker, to say we have presented an accurate 
and honest budget when it includes no funding for a war we are in the 
middle of fighting. It is not credible to say that cutting domestic 
spending by $118 billion will pay for a $1.2 trillion tax cut. It is 
not credible to say that you are strong on budget enforcement, but only 
apply the PAYGO rules to mandatory spending programs. It is not 
credible to say that deficits do not matter when you are spending over 
$349 billion a year just on the interest payments on our $7 trillion 
national debt.
  Democrats keep getting told that we need to be tough on spending and 
that if we are tough on spending, all the other problems will take care 
of themselves. Well, that is another example of this great credibility 
gap. Blue Dog Democrats are tough on spending, as you will hear from a 
number of us today who are speaking. We voted for budget alternatives 
that do not exceed the President on spending. We are tough on spending. 
And as important, we are responsible on revenue. We do not pretend that 
you can have a tax cut without paying for it. Rather, we work with what 
we have got: a war that needs to be paid for, a budget that needs to be 
balanced, and an American public who looks to their leaders for 
credibility and for truth.
  Right now we are faced with a choice. We can continue buying on 
credit, or we can begin budgeting with credibility. Our constituents 
want and our constituents deserve a credible budget. It is incredible 
that this administration has refused to submit one.

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