[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8416]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    REPUBLICAN BUDGET INCREASES DEBT WITH NO PLAN TO BALANCE BUDGET

  (Mr. SALAZAR asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. Speaker, 6 years ago our Nation was in a secure 
financial position. We had a balanced budget, a pay-as-you-go system 
for funding government programs, and a record surplus of $5.6 trillion.
  Now after years of imposing their reckless fiscal policies on this 
country, the administration and Congress have squandered our reserves, 
and their policies have created a record $3.2 trillion debt.
  Not only that, but under this watch the cost of living for average 
Americans has gone up significantly. In just the last few years alone, 
gas prices have reached $3 a gallon, fuel costs for farmers have gone 
up 113 percent, and the interest rate has risen more than 16 times.
  But just when you think things cannot get any worse, the leaders of 
this body put forward a shameful budget resolution that makes no 
attempt to bring our Nation's finances back into balance. Instead, 
their irresponsible fiscal record continues full steam ahead. The 
proposed 2007 budget will increase the deficit even further with no 
plan to ever return to balance in the future.
  Mr. Speaker, this budget resolution may be more of the same, but 
Americans know it is time for change.

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