[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25328]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE REPUBLICANS' BUDGET CHOICES

  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of 
order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Indiana?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, more than 10 years have passed since the 
Republican Party issued its ``Contract With America.''
  This week Congress will vote on budget cuts and sacrifices that only 
middle-class America is asked to bear. These budget cuts have less to 
do with deficit reduction than they have to do with making the richest 
among us more comfortable in the face of bad economic times, massive 
health care costs and unfunded mandates passed on to State and local 
governments.
  Sadly, Mr. Speaker, middle America is waking up to the bad news that 
Democrats have long known, and that is that the budget choices put 
forth by Republicans show that Republicans have a ``Contract on 
America.''
  In the release of The Status of Working Families in Indiana, Indiana 
has had a dramatic increase in the number of persons in poverty during 
the past few years and has seen household incomes decline for the sixth 
year in a row. Job growth has been slow and wages have continued to be 
stagnant. The poverty rate for children in Indiana has jumped sharply 
in the past 3 years from 10.5 percent in 2002 to 18.5 percent in 2004. 
Indiana's childhood poverty rate is now greater than the Nation's, 
which is 17.8 percent.
  Employment: From May, 2000, to January, 2002, Indiana lost 122,000 
jobs due to the national economic slowdown and recession. Since 
September, 2003, Indiana has been on the road to recovery, but as of 
July, 2005, it was still 46,000 jobs below the level reached 5 years 
ago.
  Wages: Indiana's wages have been stagnant for the past several years 
and have not kept pace with the average wages in the United States. By 
2004, the average annual wage in Indiana had fallen to just over 88 
percent of the U.S.
  Incomes: Based on 2-year averages, Indiana's median household income 
has declined steadily since 1998 and 1999, when it was $46,136. By 2003 
to 2004, it had fallen to $42,946.
  In our rush to cut the budget on the backs of the poorest of 
Americans, we need, Mr. Speaker, to counteract that abusive act against 
middle-class and poor people and restore some economic sanity to the 
Nation's budget, to the United States of America.

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