[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5274]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     CONGRESSMAN PAUL RYAN'S BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Chu) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CHU. Yesterday, Congressman Paul Ryan introduced the Republican 
Party's fiscal year 2012 road-to-ruin budget.
  We have been back to work in the House for 14 weeks. And for 14 
straight weeks, the Republican majority has done nothing to create 
jobs. They haven't even put a single jobs bill on the House floor. In 
fact, their proposed spending bill for 2011 actually costs America 
700,000 jobs.
  Now, Congressman Ryan and the Republican leadership want to extend 
their job-killing policies and permanently eliminate the middle class. 
The Republicans' road to ruin is nothing short of an attack on working 
families, seniors, students, and children.
  It attacks America's seniors by ending the Medicare guarantee and 
putting your fate in the hands of private insurance companies. It 
attacks America's workers by not doing anything to create jobs and by 
gutting job training. It attacks America's students by cutting 
education and raising college costs for nearly 10 million students.
  Now, no matter what side of the aisle we are on, we can all agree 
that deficit reduction is important. But the question is how do we do 
it. What we can't do is balance the budget on the backs of America's 
middle class, our seniors, our students, and our children.
  But I do know some things we can't afford. At a time when middle 
class families can't pay their bills, we can't afford to keep spending 
billions in subsidies for Big Oil and giveaways for special interests. 
At a time when our senior population is growing, we can't afford to 
slash funding for nursing homes and put health insurance companies back 
in control of health care. At a time when our economy needs an infusion 
of the best and brightest workers, we can't afford to cut public 
education while protecting tax breaks for companies who ship jobs 
overseas and spending billions of dollars in tax breaks on people 
already making upward of half a million dollars.
  A budget isn't just about dollars and cents; it's about priorities 
and values. And as representatives of the American people, our 
priorities and values should reflect their values: Jobs, a secure 
retirement, the promise of educational opportunity, and the certainty 
that if your child is sick then you will be able to afford to see the 
doctor.
  If you vote for this bill, then who amongst us could go home and look 
senior citizens in the eye knowing we ended Medicare as we know it? Who 
could look an unemployed worker in the eye knowing we didn't do 
anything to create jobs? Who could look a student in the eye knowing we 
took away their opportunity to succeed with a quality education?
  I want to reduce our deficit. I know it's vital for our fiscal 
future. But I also want to look my constituents in the eye and tell 
them I stood up for their priorities and not those of Big Oil, 
international corporations, and special interests.
  The truth is we can do both. We can get our deficit under control. 
And we can do it without cuts that hurt hardworking families.

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