[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1816]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THE BUDGET: OUR PRIORITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CICILLINE. Madam Speaker, I rise today with great concern about 
the future of our country. And that's because in the past few days 
we've seen the valley between the hardworking middle class and the rich 
continue to grow wider and wider. It's a matter of priorities, Madam 
Speaker, and right now we can see very clearly where my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle have placed their priorities. It's not in 
the well-being of our workforce, not in the effectiveness of our 
classrooms, and not in the safety of our neighborhoods. No, Madam 
Speaker. The priorities of the majority party are not with the people 
who have worked hard all their lives to earn a decent wage, buy a 
decent home, put their kids through school, and do what they can to 
keep their families and communities strong. The priorities of my 
Republican colleagues lay with America's most successful--the hedge 
fund managers, Wall Street financiers, and investment bankers. That's 
why they worked so hard to give those folks another tax break at the 
end of last year under the guise of extending unemployment benefits for 
many people who lost jobs through no fault of their own.
  But, my friends, you see, the rich didn't need another tax break--not 
now; not when their taxes are the lowest they've been since 1950, and a 
tax cut that added $800 billion to our deficit over the next decade. In 
addition to that, as part of the Recovery Act, Congress enacted the 
largest tax cut in American history and Democrats provided additional 
tax rebates for businesses that provide their employees with health 
insurance.
  Amidst these tremendous tax breaks for the past 2 years, the 
Republicans are moving forward with a dangerous spending bill, one that 
continues to give rewards to the rich and literally guts the 
initiatives most meaningful to middle class families. Simply put, the 
Republicans' spending bill is irresponsible and tone deaf to the needs 
of a healing Nation. It cuts jobs, threatens American innovation, and 
diminishes investments in rebuilding America. It makes devastating cuts 
to education--reducing Pell Grants by $800 per student and kicking more 
than 200,000 children out of Head Start. It reduces the competitiveness 
of our workforce by slashing $1.6 billion in job training and cutting 
$120 million in alternative youth training that sends kids to work in 
construction and other trades--critical skills that will help us make 
things again in America and put us on better footing to compete with 
the rest of the world.
  It derails $2.5 million in funding for high-speed trains, canceling 
76 projects in 40 States, at the loss of 25,000 jobs focused on 
rebuilding America; and, at the same time, reduces our domestic 
security by eliminating 1,330 police officers and 2,400 firefighters, 
making our communities less safe.
  The work of reducing our deficit and controlling spending will be 
hard, to be sure. The fact of the matter is that we have to cut 
spending. But we have to do it responsibly. We cannot cut what makes us 
competitive and what helps us to innovate, to succeed in the global 
economy, and ultimately to create jobs. The President's budget makes 
some serious cuts to good programs--some I strongly object to. But as 
we work to cut spending, we have to be sure that it's not at the 
expense of continuing to support initiatives that create jobs, educate 
our children, and keep our communities safe. We have to be serious and 
smart about how we address America's budget challenges.
  This week, we will begin debate here in this Chamber on this budget 
challenge. I've heard from many of my constituents about the concerns 
that they have related to the Federal budget for this year. It's those 
conversations and the families I've met all across Rhode Island during 
the course of my campaign that I've got on my mind. I know what their 
priorities are. I've seen the circumstances and I understand the 
challenges that their families are facing.
  My friends, we owe it to the hardworking people of our country who 
are struggling to get by and who are playing by the rules but just 
waiting for someone to stand up for them rather than the rich guy on 
Wall Street. We owe it to America's hardworking people to have a 
serious and thoughtful debate in the hopes of producing a smart and 
essential budget for our country.
  Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have become captive to 
an extremist agenda that harms people who are already hurting the most. 
That's why it's critical we ask our Republican friends, Just what are 
your priorities? Do we have the courage to come together--not as 
Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans--and invest in our country's 
greatest asset--our people; the people who built this great Nation and 
who we must believe in, now more than ever, to move our country forward 
to a prosperous and promising future.

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