[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5668-5669]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1050
                   GOP AGENDA OF MISGUIDED PRIORITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Payne) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, today I rise not to debate the economic 
crisis. Our national debt recently reached $14 trillion and our deficit 
continues to rise annually. So we know that we have a crisis, and that 
is really not the debate here today. However, I want to remind my 
colleagues that our economic deficit is dependent on our job deficit 
and our ever-growing education deficit.
  While we must work to rein in spending, we must not indiscriminately 
cut funding in areas like education, health, and employment that will 
hamper our immediate and future economic growth. As we remain vigilant 
in cutting the debt and reducing deficits, we must remember that the 
most powerful driver of both is a growing economy, which includes an 
increase in revenue.
  During this recession, unemployment has impeded economic growth. One 
of the challenges in addressing unemployment has been the rapid decline 
in certain occupations and industries and our labor market's inability 
to meet the demand of new occupations and industries.
  More than two-thirds of workers in occupations and industries that 
are growing have at least some postsecondary education compared to one-
third of the workers in occupations and industries that are declining. 
The demand for a post-secondary education, as well as the increase in 
baby boomer retirement, is predicted to result in a

[[Page 5669]]

shortage of more than 14 million college-educated workers by the year 
2020. This is the deficit that should garner our national attention and 
we should work together on. We can only address this through our 
continued focus on education, training, employment, and social 
services, which make up a total of 2 percent of our Federal budget.
  To build sustainable economic growth, we must continue our investment 
in employment and training programs, which have experienced an increase 
in demand of support for displaced and unemployed workers. We must 
continue our investment in higher education by maintaining Pell Grant 
funding, as well as support for programs such as TRIO, which sends the 
largest amount of low-income students to and through college, which 
helps the economic prowess of this country. We must continue our 
investment in title I programs, which are intended to supplement local 
resources of underserved schools, which bring our economy down.
  We must continue our investment in School Improvement Grants, which 
provide important resources for States to turn around their lowest-
performing schools and significantly reduce the high school dropout 
rate, which causes our country a great deal of deficit.
  We must continue our investment in programs that address the 17,000 
word gap between low-income 6-year-olds and their more advantaged 
peers. We must support programs such as Head Start that work to 
dismantle the cradle-to-prison pipeline and replace it with a cradle-
to-career pipeline by providing early childhood education to low-income 
children. These supports, in tandem, produce a higher number of 
taxpaying citizens and add growth to our economy. Yet, my colleagues 
continually try to attack these efforts by cutting these programs.
  Further, my colleagues--who made a ``pledge to America'' to develop a 
plan to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America more 
competitive--continuously introduce and support measures to undermine 
this pledge and devastate our economic growth as a Nation.
  In March, unemployment fell to 8.8 percent, a 2-year low. Payrolls 
grew to 216,000 for the month, following 194,000 in February. Private 
hiring rose by 230,000 people in March, following a 240,000 growth in 
February. Manufacturing expanded to a 7-year high in March. Incomes and 
consumer spending increased in February, helping to expand the economy. 
Yet, ignoring economic facts, the experts, the political reality, and 
the best interests of the American people, the Republicans continue to 
embrace an ideological spending plan that would destroy 700,000 jobs 
and derail the economic recovery just as it is beginning to gain 
momentum.
  The current Republican spending plan would: Give away tax breaks to 
companies that shift jobs overseas; give away tens of billions of 
dollars in tax subsidies to Big Oil companies; and make tax cuts for 
the wealthy permanent, which adds $1 trillion to the deficit.
  This plan would kick almost 1 million college students out of the 
Pell Grant program.
  218,000 low income children and families would be removed from the 
Head Start program.
  170,000 families trying to find or retain employment would lose 
childcare.
  2,400 schools serving nearly a million low-income students would lose 
funding.
  Job training programs for those out of work or attaining new skills 
would be dramatically cut.
  Guaranteed coverage for seniors under Medicare would be eliminated.
  Cuts will be made to Medicaid for seniors in nursing homes, health 
care for children and Americans with disabilities.
  This spending plan that my colleagues have proposed only highlights 
the misplaced priorities.
  The Republican budget is the wrong choice for the American people: it 
is unfair; it doesn't create jobs; and it doesn't grow the economy.
  This proposal attempts to cut the deficit on the backs of working 
families, seniors, children, and our middle class. But I contend: We 
cannot build this country's economy on the backs of the vulnerable.
  The public wants Democrats and Republicans to negotiate and 
compromise. My Democratic colleagues and I are willing to make 
responsible budget cuts that don't cost jobs, don't hurt the economy 
and that reduce the deficit responsibly.
  Yet, our Republican colleagues continue to waste precious time with 
draconian spending proposals filled with divisive ``policy riders'' 
that are unacceptable to the American people.
  This is irresponsible. Working families deserve more. Our children 
deserve more. Our future as a Nation deserves more.

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