[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9720-9721]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    WE NEED A FAIR, BALANCED BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Tonko) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, we are some 3 years into the worst recession 
since the Great Depression. I have heard repeated claims that these are 
times that call for courageous leadership and bold decisions. Well, 
there certainly has been no lack of audacity during recent talks on the 
budget.
  I'm joining my colleagues on the Budget Committee here today to ask, 
on behalf of my constituents in New York's 21st Congressional District, 
for less hubris and more humility from some of our Nation's leaders as 
we attempt to solve a problem that impacts the lives and livelihoods of 
our families, our friends, our neighbors, and our constituents.
  I have but two requests: first, that any budget agreement must not 
hurt our economy further. In 2008, the financial crisis brought this 
Nation to its knees. It was a crisis of our own making; and though we 
must not dwell on blame, we must learn from this experience to avoid 
the mistakes of the past.
  Is there no way to encourage business growth, small and large, 
without wasting $130 billion a year on tax giveaways and without 
gutting programs that educate our workforce? I refuse to believe that 
there is no smart solution to this problem. My constituents refuse to 
believe it. We have learned our lesson, and we know better.
  Second, any budget agreement must take a balanced approach. It is the 
height of arrogance to sit down at a negotiating table to solve a 
fiscal crisis and declare an $800 billion question off limits. Federal 
Government subsidies for some of the most profitable corporations on 
Earth, oil tax breaks that trace their roots to policy decisions made 
nearly 100 years ago must be on the table. Tax breaks for the 
wealthiest 2 percent of America must be on the table. Tax earmarks for 
corporate jets, for snow globes, for golf bags, these must be on the 
table.
  America is watching. America is waiting for us to wake up, eat our 
Wheaties, and flex the powerful muscle of human reason to get this 
country on a sustainable path. Sustainability means cutting spending 
where it is not needed and where it offers no common good. It means 
cutting tax kickbacks where they are not needed. It means protecting 
the present and the future of Medicare in a form that provides more 
than a coupon to our seniors and more than an unsympathetic ``so be 
it'' to proud men and women who lost their jobs through no fault of 
their own. It means knowing that the Big Five oil companies can stand 
on their own two feet. It means playing for the same team, putting 
everything on the table and winning this one not for our campaigns, but 
for our constituents.
  If I might refer to this chart using data from OMB and the Ways and 
Means Committee, my Republican colleagues have shown the so-called 
``courage'' to ask America's seniors to make yet another great 
sacrifice for their country--giving up their hard-earned, guaranteed 
Medicare benefits in favor of a voucher. This will lead to thousands of 
dollars in new out-of-pocket expenses each year.
  Certainly the $165 billion in cuts is rivaled by the $131 billion 
yearly giveaways, that $165-billion-a-year question from the Republican 
budget that is on the table in these talks. I do not like it. I will 
not vote for it. I will fight it every time it comes to this floor for 
a vote, but it is on the table. It is being discussed and debated, 
fought for and against in a process that makes our democracy run as it 
was intended to. But again, we will fight any cuts and any end to 
Medicare.
  But there's another line on this chart, and that's this $131-billion-
per-year question of giving tax breaks to wealthy special interests. 
Look, the two of them are comparable, giving oil companies more 
subsidies versus taking away Medicare. This is the question of using 
taxpayer-subsidized support from the Federal Government to add a few 
extra billion to the Herculean profits of some of the world's 
wealthiest corporations.
  The Big Five oil companies have pocketed almost $1 trillion in 
profits in the past 10 years. In the midst of our recession, they are 
doing just fine. They have told us, We don't need the tax breaks. So 
why would my colleague from Virginia, the Republican majority leader, 
declare that tax reform--like cutting the $20 billion in subsidies that 
these companies will receive in the next 10 years--is off the table? 
Why are tax write-off earmarks for corporate jets off the table? Why 
are hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks for millionaires and 
billionaires off the table? Why are we talking about cutting programs 
for nursing homes and preschools, for local cops and firefighters, for 
retirement security and the future of renewable energy? Why are we 
talking about cutting these programs without asking the Big Five oil 
companies to stand on their own two feet?
  I have watched programs that my constituents rely on end up utterly 
decimated on the floor of this House this year. And yet I come before 
you today not asking for less sacrifice, but for more. I'm asking for 
those at the top to bear their fair share of both the burden and the 
potential triumph of this historic moment.

[[Page 9721]]

  Again, I must merely ask for a little humility as we attempt to solve 
a challenge that no one woman or one man among us should attempt to 
tackle--or scuttle--alone. Nothing is off the table, and nothing is 
more important than getting every single American who wants to do a 
hard day's work for a fair wage back on the job site. Any budget 
agreement must take this balanced approach and must not hurt our 
economy further.

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