OFFICE OF THE MAJORITY LEADER

Where’s the Republican Budget?

Republican Leaders Had Time to Whine,But Were Unable to Complete Budget

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) released the following statement this morning regarding the House Republicans’ failure on Thursday to finish their Budget Committee markup of the FY05 Budget Resolution due to internal conflicts over spending levels and deficit reduction:

“House Republicans are trapped in a budget box of their own creation, and they have no one to blame but themselves.  They are absolutely riven with internal conflict.  Their intra-party squabbling burst into the open this week when the Budget Committee’s markup of the budget resolution was stopped in its tracks.

“It’s interesting that the bicameral Republican leadership was able to get together on Thursday to engage in a collective whine session over off-hand comments by John Kerry, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee.  They ought to show the same level of concern and collaboration on the issues actually important to Americans.

“It is now clear that the irresponsible tax-cut chickens are coming home to roost.  For years, many House Republicans preened as ‘deficit hawks.’  But their stubborn refusal to pay for tax cuts makes any real deficit reduction a virtual impossibility.  It is ludicrous to suggest that we are going to reduce the deficit without applying pay-go rules to tax cuts that would add an estimated $2 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.

“This week, a few Members of the House Republican Conference insisted that pay-go rules apply to existing, as well as future, tax cuts.  Their fiscal honesty is welcome.  House Democrats and a bipartisan majority of the Senate, which adopted pay-go rules in its Budget Resolution, absolutely agree with them.

“Other House Republicans recognize that the spending levels put forth by President Bush and being considered in this Budget Resolution would fail to meet the priorities of the American people on wide range of issues such as defense, homeland security, veterans’ health and education.

“Democrats are absolutely committed to real action on reining in the record deficits and exploding debt that President Bush and Republicans have created.  It is immoral to force our children and grandchildren to pay our bills.  Democrats intend to propose a budget plan that meets the American people’s priorities and gets our fiscal house back in order.  Pay-go rules that apply to spending, and existing and future tax cuts, are a crucial part of that.”

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