[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8819]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         IGNORING FISCAL CRISIS

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House we started the 
appropriations process, and that continues today, but the problem is 
that the Republican leadership and the President continue to ignore the 
fiscal crisis that they have created here in the Congress and across 
the country.
  As you know, we passed a budget this week, but at the same time the 
debt continues to rise and so much of the money actually being spent is 
going towards the war in Iraq which is not really being addressed. In 
fact, many times, the budget simply masks that because it does not 
include the funding and the cost of the war in the budget itself.
  So what I say today, rather than just focus on the appropriation 
bills and the different items back and forth, the Republican Congress 
should look at the overall picture. They just passed another tax cut 
bill, with tax cuts primarily going to large corporations, special 
interests, wealthy individuals, not the average American; and they 
continue to increase the debt.
  Spending is also out of control, and they are not doing anything 
about it. Unfortunately, over the long term this leads to a fiscal 
crisis. We continue to go into debt. We don't have the money available 
to borrow for new production, and the Republicans need to address this 
fiscal crisis. They are not doing it, Mr. Speaker.

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