[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18542-18543]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2045
                                 BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Reichert). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to join my Democratic 
colleagues to call for a new direction in our Federal budget 
priorities. I want to thank my friend Artur Davis from the Budget 
Committee and the Democratic committee staff for arranging this series 
of speeches on this very important subject.
  The Federal budget is much more than a boring government document or 
irrelevant policy paper. The Federal budget is our Nation's mission 
statement. The budget is our collective expression of our national 
priorities, and it reflects the values of our national leadership. 
Unfortunately, the values of the current national leadership, as 
reflected in the Federal budget, are a sorry state of affairs.
  I am very proud that during my first term in this United States 
House, Congress and the President joined together to move toward 
balancing the Federal budget for the first time in decades. Democrats 
and Republicans reached across the partisan aisle and worked together 
to balance the books for the first time in over a generation.
  The surpluses generated from the balanced budget were used to pay 
down the national debt, strengthen the Social Security Trust Fund and 
to make key investments in essential services like education and 
health. And we had enough left over to fund cutting-edge research and 
development that is the gateway to America's economic future and 
quality of life.
  Unfortunately, all of that progress was reversed when the current 
administration took office. The current administration and the 
Republican Party bosses here in Congress have passed incredibly 
irresponsible budgets with disastrous results for our economy and for 
future generations. These record deficits and rising national debt 
present a crushing burden as our legacy and produce profound neglect of 
our basic infrastructure.
  Just this morning, the Raleigh, North Carolina, News and Observer 
reported my State is running billions of dollars short in funding 
necessary to rejuvenate aging roads, schools and water systems. The 
2006 North Carolina Infrastructure Report Card by the American Society 
of Engineers gave my State a C-minus grade on nine key categories of 
infrastructure readiness.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe the Federal Government needs to work in 
partnership with our States and local communities to meet the needs of 
our people.
  I have worked for several years with my good friend Congressman 
Charlie Rangel of the Ways and Means Committee to pass Federal 
legislation to leverage school bonds on the local level. This 
legislation will make a real difference throughout America to build new 
schools, relieve overcrowding, enhance safety and improve education for 
our children. Unfortunately, under the current Republican regime, we 
cannot even get a hearing on the Rangel-Etheridge bill.
  But worse than not passing new bills, the Republican budget fails to 
pay for the laws they have put on the books. For example, the No Child 
Left Behind, which the President bragged about as his signature 
legislation reform achievement, has never been fully funded. To date, 
Republicans in the White House and Congress have shortchanged our 
schools roughly $50 billion that they promised under No Child Left 
Behind. Talk to any educator. They can tell you. Promises unmet are 
programs unfulfilled.
  This disgraceful record is a direct result of those misguided 
budgets. I believe in my bones that public education is one of the best 
investments that we can make in building a bright future, but under the 
current Federal budget, the taxpayers will pay nearly three times as 
much to service the interest on the national debt as we will invest

[[Page 18543]]

in education at the Federal level, and nearly 45 percent of that 
national debt is held by foreign investors like China, Japan, Europe 
and elsewhere.
  Mr. Speaker, America needs a new direction. The first place we can 
start is reversing the current budget priorities that we have that are 
out of touch with our American values.
  I congratulate my colleagues for leading this series of speeches on 
this important issue.

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