[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5090-5091]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET

  (Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page 5091]]


  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, budgets are about values and 
require elected decisionmakers to balance the needs of our constituents 
with fiscal responsibility.
  The Republican Ryan budget this Chamber deemed adopted yesterday is 
in no way a reflection of the American values that have shaped this 
Nation. The Republican budget would turn back the clock more than a 
century to a time when social Darwinism--survival of the fittest--was, 
in fact, the norm.
  Through the leadership of people like Republican Teddy Roosevelt, our 
Nation began to realize the value in tending to the needs of the poor, 
the sick, the working poor, the elderly, our children and women. The 
Republican budget would again put us at risk by making seniors 
experience a slashing of Medicare and increasing their out-of-pocket 
costs, and it would further line the pockets of the rich at the expense 
of the downtrodden among us.
  The cuts in discretionary spending put forth by the Republican budget 
would further set our students behind and create a drag on the economy 
by disinvesting in research and infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, these are 
not American values.

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