[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 15979]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        THE PREVAILING BUDGET PLAN DOES NOT PROTECT A DEMOCRACY

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. You think cutting Social Security, Medicare, and 
Medicaid should be part of a budget deal?
  America's economic collapse was fed by Wall Street greed in the form 
of a $6 trillion housing bubble. This brought large budget deficits. 
Some who were at the center of the housing crash are pushing for deep 
cuts to social programs in order to cure the budget deficit. The CEO of 
Goldman Sachs, which received a $10 billion direct bailout and tens of 
billions of loans at below-market interest rates, has preached about 
cutting Social Security benefits and increasing the retirement age.
  While Wall Street was bailed out with tax dollars from Main Street, 
Main Street Americans have lost more than 40 percent of their wealth 
from 2007 to 2010. Nearly one in six U.S. residents is officially 
poor--the highest rate in 50 years. Twenty-two percent of American 
children live in poverty. We are facing an economic situation that 
resembles the years leading up to the Great Depression.
  Now this prevailing budget plan calls for deep cuts in spending on 
education, environmental protection, Social Security, Medicare, and 
Medicaid while corporations and the top 1 percent would get tax cuts of 
nearly $3 trillion over the next decade. This is not how to protect a 
democracy.

                          ____________________