[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3732-3733]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE HOUSE BUDGET

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, Gandhi said, ``Action expresses 
priorities.'' Action expresses priorities. Congressional Republicans' 
actions on the budget clearly demonstrate how little regard they have 
for the American middle class. I want to get into a few examples. Their 
budget proposal--the one the House is going to send to us soon--ends 
Medicare as we know it, replacing it with another voucher program. It 
takes health care away from 16.4 million Americans now insured through 
the Affordable Care Act. It guts Medicaid and undercuts millions of 
families who rely on it to fund nursing homes and other care. It cuts 
billions in education funding--billions--and it cuts job training and 
employment services for 4 million American workers. The list goes on 
and on.
  But we know one thing their budget does not do. It doesn't cut a 
single tax loophole for the superwealthy to reduce the deficit. Not 
one. Instead, this budget is brimming with more tax breaks for the 
megarich--many new tax breaks. In fact, the Republican budget would 
drastically cut the tax bill for the average millionaire while raising 
taxes on the middle class. That is not just irresponsible, it is 
immoral.
  Of course, lowering taxes for millionaires and billionaires will add 
to the deficit, not cut it. Republicans claim they are reducing the 
deficit, but that is not true. In truth, they are using mirrors and a 
lot of smoke in an effort to fool the American people.
  House Republicans are really hiding the ball--moving the ball--
claiming massive savings without explaining how. They are, for lack of 
a better description, cooking the books, using speculative and what 
they call ``dynamic scoring.'' What is dynamic scoring? This is an 
effort to claim they are balancing the budget. Dynamic scoring says, 
here is all this tax revenue and other money we are going to get and it 
will help significantly. The fact is everyone knows there isn't any 
truth to that. It is only some numbers on paper. They are relying on 
transparent tricks to hide their refusal to protect our military from 
sequestration and budget cuts. Yet Republicans say of their own budget 
plan, we do not rely on gimmicks or creative accounting to balance our 
budget.
  The definition of ``gimmick'' is a concealed, devious aspect or 
feature of something, as a plan or a deal--a concealed, devious aspect 
or feature.
  Well, we have a perfect example of a gimmick in the Republican budget 
that the House is working on and we are told they will complete. It 
sounds like a gimmick to me. At least one Republican from the House 
agrees with me. Congressman Ken Buck of Colorado said yesterday, ``It's 
all hooey.'' The budget is all hooey. But as Dana Milbank said in 
today's Washington Post, speaking of the House Republicans' plan: 
``True, the budget does not rely on gimmicks. The budget is a 
gimmick.'' That is a direct quote.

[[Page 3733]]

  We don't need gimmicks. We need a responsible budget and this is not 
a responsible budget. This is not responsible governance.
  Unfortunately, though, this is the budget we have come to expect from 
today's Republican Party--a party that is so committed to supporting 
the superwealthy that they are throwing America's middle class and the 
military overboard.
  Democrats are focused on the middle class. We want to create jobs, 
invest in the future, and make sure that all Americans benefit from an 
improving economy.
  We are more than happy to work with our Republican colleagues in 
order to make our goals a reality. Unfortunately, helping the middle 
class just doesn't seem to be a priority for congressional Republicans.
  Mr. President, would the Chair announce the business of the day.

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