[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 25271-25272]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 REPUBLICAN BUDGET CUTS BAD FOR AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Drake). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 4, 2005, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Woolsey) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I am the cochair, along with Barbara Lee 
from Berkeley, California, of the 62-member Congressional Progressive 
Caucus. Our progressive promise includes a fair and balanced budget 
that represents all people in this country. So I am pleased to take 
this time in this special order this evening to talk about the cruel 
and shameful budget and the tax cuts the Republican majority wants to 
ram through this House on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
  After hearing my Republican colleagues in the first hour special 
order tonight, I would hope that they are paying a great deal of 
attention to what is going on with this reconciliation budget. 
Otherwise, there is not going to be any money for all of those good 
ideas they have for health care. It was a pleasure to hear their good 
ideas, now that we are going to talk about where the money will be and 
where the money is going in our budget, and it is something we are 
going to be dealing with straight up Wednesday or Thursday of this 
week.
  It is also time for the people of this country to know what is going 
on. It is time to stop this railroad and help the American people learn 
just what the Republicans are up to. They keep acting as Robin Hood in 
reverse. It comes out in the various committees, and in bringing up 
this vote this week on the House Floor, a vote that will hurt hard-
working Americans because of a package of bills in the billions of 
dollars, at least $50 billion, that will include hurtful budget cuts.
  But make no mistake about it. These budget priorities are outrageous. 
They, meaning the Republicans, want to provide $70 billion to $100 
billion in new tax cuts for the powerful and the privileged in America 
who need them the least, while cutting programs for the rest of the 
country. And they are going to pay for these irresponsible tax cuts for 
the most well off by shredding the safety net for the most vulnerable 
in our society, those who live under or near the poverty line, and by 
breaking the social contract with hard-working, middle-class Americans 
as well.
  And, oh, yes, what the Republicans do not wring out of the blood, 
sweat, and tears of working and impoverished Americans through budget 
cuts will just be added to the debt of the next generation of 
Americans. Can you believe it? This is the first budget reconciliation 
package in the history of our country that actually increases Federal 
deficits at least another $25 billion, which will be added to the 
deficit this year without batting an eye. While pretending to be the 
guardians of our Treasury, Republicans in charge of this Congress just 
keep borrowing and spending, piling up debt that our grandchildren and 
their children will owe.
  Ten years ago, the Republicans took control of this House, trumpeting 
their Contract With America with great fanfare, if you will all 
remember it. But now, one decade later, it is plain for all of us to 
see that their slick marketing gambit has proven to be a ``Contract on 
America,'' particularly those struggling to face financial ends.
  The numbers and the budget trade-offs recommended in this budget 
package speak for themselves, but let me cite a few examples for my 
colleagues. To pay for a $70 billion to $100 billion tax cut, and these 
are new tax cuts, by the way, the Republicans in control of this House 
want to slash $844 million from the food stamp program, which would 
result in 300,000 families being kicked off of this antihunger program. 
It would leave 40,000 children ineligible for school lunches.

                              {time}  2130

  Apparently, the Republicans do not realize the number of malnourished 
children and Americans grew by more than 2 million in the past year. 
The Republicans want to cut $14.5 billion from student aid programs at 
precisely the time when paying for college education has become more 
difficult than in any generation in the past. These short-sighted 
education cuts, including the largest cut in the history of the student 
loan program, are certain to increase the interest rates and the fees 
that many students will have to pay.
  The Republicans are going after single mothers. They are cutting $500 
million in Federal support for child care assistance, leaving an 
additional 250,000 children without quality child care. Adding insult 
to injury, the Republicans are cutting almost $5 billion from child 
support enforcement programs that help to collect money from dead-beat 
dads. So much for compassionate conservatism when it comes time to give 
tax cuts to rich cronies of the Republican majority.
  The Republicans are cutting $9.5 billion from Medicaid, the Federal 
program that extends basic health care to the poorest and neediest of 
Americans.
  Home heating bills are expected to be 30 to 50 percent higher this 
coming winter, but that is not keeping the Republicans in control of 
this House from voting against full funding of the Low Income Home 
Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP.
  And evidence is strong and persuasive that many of these programs 
while not perfect, we know that, have made progress towards goals 
shared by Americans across the political spectrum, such as preventing 
hunger, destitution and homelessness, protecting children's health, and 
rewarding low-paid work.
  When our constituents experience crises in their personal lives such 
as job loss or disabilities, these programs can cushion them against 
deep poverty.
  When people have low earnings or little or no health insurance, these 
programs can supplement their incomes and provide essential health care 
coverage.
  And when people reach retirement age, these programs provide some 
measure of retirement and health security. Research and data from the 
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and other experts around the 
country show that the United States system of income support benefits 
have helped make tens of millions of Americans healthier and more 
secure.
  Without properly funded programs like food stamps, Medicaid, State 
Children's Health Insurance Programs, unemployment insurance and the 
supplemental security program for the elderly and disabled poor, ours 
will be a harsher and less compassionate society with more extreme 
hardship, especially among children and people who are elderly and 
people who do have disabilities.
  The Happy Warrior, Senator Hubert Humphrey, used to remind us that 
the character of a society can best be judged by how it cares for those 
in the dawn and the twilight of life.

[[Page 25272]]

  By this measure, the Republicans, who are in charge of all branches 
of our government today and who are responsible for these budget and 
tax cuts, are failing the American people woefully. They are 
particularly failing our children and students and their education.
  As I said earlier, the Republican reconciliation budget will pay for 
between 70 and $100 billion in new tax cuts for the rich by cutting 
very critical social programs.
  This budget would break the backs of hard-working poor and middle-
class families in order to break the bank to pay for tax cuts for 
wealthy families.
  Let us talk about how this budget actually affects family values. Let 
us talk about how we could use that 70 billion to $100 billion to keep 
some important promises to the average American family.
  For instance, the Head Start program offers low-income families the 
promise that their young children will not start school at a 
disadvantage, but we serve fewer than half of the eligible 3- and 4-
year olds nationwide.
  Yet, instead of providing the $5 billion increase that it would take 
to ensure this opportunity for every eligible child this year, 
President Bush and the Republican Congress are cutting 70 to $100 
billion in taxes at the very top level.
  Almost 4 years ago, President Bush and the Republican Congress passed 
the No Child Left Behind Act and joined in a bipartisan promise to 
American families that we would provide schools with resources they 
need to educate all of our children.
  They said that they would use No Child Left Behind to diagnose where 
dollars were needed to turn poorer performing schools and school 
districts around so that actually no child would be left behind. Since 
then, the President and the Republican Congress have fallen more than 
$40 billion short of keeping that promise. And so No Child Left Behind 
has become punitive instead of helpful.
  We could do better by our children if we spent that $40 billion on 
those children and did not cut taxes for the wealthiest people in this 
country. In 1975, the Federal Government promised families that it 
would fully fund its share of IDEA, the Individuals With Disabilities 
Education Act. But 30 years later we are less than halfway there.
  Last year, President Bush and the Republican Congress made another 
bipartisan promise to increase funding for IDEA by $4 billion this year 
and to fully fund IDEA by the year 2011. It sounded good. A lot of us 
voted for it, and a lot of us did not.
  But within a few months of signing the new law, the President broke 
his promise by more than $3.5 billion, no, billion dollars. So we could 
use $3.5 billion of the tax cuts for the wealthy to keep this 
bipartisan promise to fund IDEA as was promised. Or even better, we 
could use $13.2 billion to fully fund IDEA up to the Federal 
responsibility.
  Another, Federal student aid for college offers low-and middle-income 
families the promise of an education to prepare them for jobs in the 
21st century. $14.3 billion would enable us to offset the cuts that the 
Republican reconciliation budget would make to Federal student aid 
programs, the largest cuts, by the way, in history.
  These cuts would add $5,800 to the cost of the typical student's 
college loans, while students whose families can pay outright for the 
best colleges, and do not need loans, get another tax cut.
  Another $4.2 billion would enable us to keep another promise that 
President Bush has not come close to keeping. That would be to increase 
the annual Pell grant for low-income students to $5,100. Or we could 
reduce the tax cuts for the wealthy by $7 billion to keep the 
bipartisan promise made in 1998 to increase the Pell grant to $5,800.
  But at a time when the buying power of Pell grants is only about half 
of what it was at its peak, the President and the Republican Congress 
have virtually frozen Pell grants since the year 2002.
  My colleagues, how we choose to allocate Federal resources is a 
reflection of our values, our values as Members of Congress, our values 
as leaders of our country. And the choices we will make this year will 
be one of the most critical choices any of us will make during our time 
in Congress.
  We can pass the Republican reconciliation budget, which, I believe, 
makes a mockery of the term ``family values,'' unless of course, the 
only families you value are the nation's wealthiest families; or we can 
pass a budget that truly helps all of America's families.
  I hope that we will make the right choice. I hope that we will invest 
in our families and their children, which, by the way, is an investment 
in our Nation's ability to compete in the international marketplace.

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