OFFICE OF THE MAJORITY LEADER

TRANSCRIPT

Statement on Passing the House Budget and Republican Hypocrisy
March 13, 2008

... REPUBLICAN BUDGET. I YIELD BACK. THE CHAIRMAN: THE GENTLEMAN FROM SOUTH CAROLINA. MR. SPRATT: I YIELD ONE MINUTE TO THE MAJORITY LEADER OF THE HOUSE. . MR. HOYER: I'VE BEEN HERE SOMETIME, AS ALL OF YOU KNOW. RONALD REAGAN SAID, ""TRUST BUT VERIFY."" FOR 27 YEARS ALL BUT EIGHT OF THOSE WERE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS. I HEARD REPRESENTATIONS FROM THE REPUBLICANS ABOUT WHAT THE DEFICIT'S GOING TO DO. FOR EVERY ONE OF THOSE 27 YEARS THAT THE REPUBLICANS WERE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, EVERYONE WITHOUT EXCEPTION WE RAN HUGE DEFICITS. AND THIS YEAR WILL BE NO DIFFERENT. THE REPUBLICANS HAVE HAD MONOPOLY ON POLICYMAKING IN THIS TOWN FOR ESSENTIALLY SEVEN YEARS. THIS PAST YEAR WE HAD SOME AUTHORITY BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANTED CHANGE. BUT CLEARLY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WOULD NOT AGREE WITH US AND WE HAD TO DO WHAT THE PRESIDENT WOULD AGREE TO. SO ESSENTIALLY WITHOUT RESTRAINT THE REPUBLICANS HAVE HAD FOR THE LAST SEVEN YEARS THE AUTHORITY TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANTED TO DO. THE FIRST EIGHT YEARS I WAS HERE RONALD REAGAN WAS PRESIDENT. HE RAN A TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEFICITS. THEN, GEORGE BUSH BECAME PRESIDENT. A LITTLE OVER A TRILLION DOLLARS. THIS PRESIDENT, A LITTLE OVER $1.6 TRILLION. PRESIDENT CLINTON WAS PRESIDENT FOR EIGHT YEARS. THE ONLY EIGHT YEARS WE HAD THE PRESIDENCY. AND AMERICA RAN A NET SURPLUS. SO WHEN YOU HEAR THE PROTESTATIONS OF THE DISTINGUISHED RANKING MEMBER OF THE BUDGET COMMITTEE AND THE GENTLEMAN WHO JUST SPOKE FROM TEXAS, LISTEN TO THEM BUT VERIFY. LOOK AT THE RECORD OF REPUBLICAN FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY. UNDIMINISHED IN THE 27 YEARS I'VE BEEN HERE. MR. RYAN, FOR WHOM I HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF RESPECT, AND I HAVE A VERY SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCES FROM HOW YOU GET FROM HERE TO THERE. IS HE CORRECT THAT WE NEED TO LOOK AT OUR ENTITLEMENT SYSTEM? HE IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. AS A MATTER OF FACT, AS HE KNOWS, I WENT TO THE SENATE AND TESTIFIED ON BEHALF OF A RESOLUTION THAT DOES THAT. THERE'S A RESOLUTION HERE THAT DOES THAT AS WELL. WE HAVE TO DO THAT. THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE. HAVE THEY DONE THAT OVER THE LAST SEVEN YEARS OF THIS PRESIDENCY? THEY DID NOT. DID WE DO IT IN 1983 AS RONALD REAGAN PRESIDENT, TIP O'NEILL AS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, WE DID AND WE MADE SOCIAL SECURITY SECURE FOR THE NEXT 60 YEARS. BUT WHEN WE WERE RUNNING UP THOSE DEFICITS THAT RONALD REAGAN SAID WE WERE NOT GOING TO RUN UP, THE SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE AND MEDICAID CRISIS THAT CONFRONTS US WAS DECADES AWAY. TODAY, THE GENTLEMAN FROM WISCONSIN IS CORRECT. IT IS YEARS AWAY. HOWEVER, THE SOLUTION IS NOT TO CUT MEDICAL SERVICES FOR SENIOR CITIZENS. TO CUT EDUCATION FOR OUR COLLEGE STUDENTS. THE SOLUTION IS NOT TO PUT THE CAR IN REVERSE. THE SOLUTION, AS ROSS PEROT SAID, IS TO LIFT UP THE HOOD AND FIX IT. AND THAT'S WHAT THE SPRATH BUDGET IS DOING. THE -- WHAT THE SPRATT BUDGET IS DOING. THE SPRATT BUDGET IS SAYING TO ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE AND CONGRESS, WE MUST ACT RESPONSIBLY. RESPONSIBLY IS NOT ONLY ACTING FISCALLY RESPONSIBLY BUT ALSO INVESTING RESPONSIBLY IN THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY. I WOULD URGE MY COLLEAGUES TO REJECT THIS TIRED, TIRED, TIRED SHIBILITH ABOUT THE BIGGEST TAX INCREASE IN HISTORY. FRANKLY, THE BIGGEST PER CAPITA CUT, REAL INCREASE IN MY TENURE WAS UNDER BOB DOLE AND RONALD REAGAN. 1982. AND THEN, OF COURSE, GEORGE BUSH WAS DEFEATED, PRESUMABLY BECAUSE HE TRIED TO HELP BALANCE THE BUDGET. AND IN FACT GEORGE BUSH I MADE ...