[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3659]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  WE CANNOT AFFORD TO BALANCE AMERICA'S CHECKBOOK ON THE BACK OF THE 
                              MIDDLE CLASS

  (Mr. AGUILAR asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. AGUILAR. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, we saw encouraging news 
about our economy continuing to move back from the debilitating 
recession that we faced only a few years ago. While we still have a 
ways to go, we are certainly moving in the right direction.
  However, if the GOP budget revealed today should come to pass, it 
would have devastating effects on America's middle class and undo the 
progress that we have made. This budget will force middle class 
families to work harder and get less.
  The GOP has presented us with legislation that will keep paychecks 
stagnant, making it harder to buy a home; it would cut student loans, 
making it difficult for kids to afford college, and it would strip away 
the secure retirement by privatizing Medicare.
  We cannot afford to balance America's checkbook on the backs of the 
middle class. In the district where I come from--California's Inland 
Empire--families are struggling from the recession and are fighting to 
catch up with the rest of the Nation.
  I cannot and will not ask them to bear this burden because the GOP 
can't pass a budget.

                          ____________________