On the Border Security issue we apparently have a very broad based agreement on that issue. The gentleman says you want to do it individually. The gentleman knows that the Judiciary Committee has passed out individual, discreet bills dealing with discreet parts of the immigration issue, which you say is a broken system, bring out discreetly those bills. The bill that the Homeland Security reported out unanimously has not been brought to the floor. The four bills that have been reported out of the Judiciary Committee have not been brought out to the floor. They were passed months and months and months ago so that if you dont want to to a comprehensive thats the view of the majority leader, mr. Speaker, then i would suggest to the majority leader that he bring out discreet bills, individual bills, not comprehensive, and see if we can deal with those. I will tell you our disappointment also is that it was not overwhelm the senate bill that was rejected, but the speaker put out some principles with respect to comprehensive immigration immigration reform, i wont call it comprehensive, put out some principles, we received those positively. We thought that was a positive step. Unfortunately, those, the speakers proposals, were rejected, apparently, by a very large number of your party in and outside this institution, and as a result six days after he issued the principles, he said that they were not going to be pursued. Yes, we were frustrated and disappointed with that because we thought the speaker had taken a positive step forward. I dont know whether the majority leader was, mr. Speaker, part of the tshof those principles, but in any event, we accepted them as good faith efforts to come to an agreement. We were prepared to pursue discussions on those principles. Unfortunately, as i say, the speaker withdrew them. Mr. Speaker, im prepared to yield back the balance of my time unless the majority le jason furman, terrible White House Council of economic advisors, will discuss unemployment and the current labor market. The debate over the minimum wage, eat income inequality and the Affordable Care act. Newsmakers on cspan. The House Budget Committee voted last week along party lines to send a 2015 budget resolution to the full house. The plan was written by committee chair, paul ryan. It cuts 5 trillion over the next decade with more than 2 trillion of those cuts coming from a repeal of the house of the health care law. Says the plann balances the federal budget over 10 years. Next, some of the debates over the first hour of the budget markup. Ordered. We will now move on to opening statements. All right. First of all i want to than the members of this committee. This is the second year in this session, so this should not be a strange process to maybe with the exception of our two new members. This is our fourth budget in four years. Each one of our budgets has been on time, and it has been in balance. And though we havent always agreed on every detail, we have worked through the tough issues on behalf of our constituents. I also want to thank Ranking Member mr. Van hollen. I expect we will have a lot to talk about today and we wont always see eye to eye. But he and his staff have done their part to uphold this committees long tradition of bipartisan cooperation. Our debates have always been spirited and theyve always been civil. I want to thank them for that, as well. Now, we passed the bipartisan budget act just a few months ago. Some people might be wondering why are you even doing a budget if one is now in place . Here is how i see it. That agreement was a step in the right direction but a bare minimum. Before then the senate hadnt passed a budget in nearly four years. Talks had broken down. So senator murray and i tried to change that. And we found some Common Ground. A modest, twoyear agreement to fulfill our most basic responsibilities. We spared our military from arbitrary acrosstheboard cuts. We returned the power of the purse back to congress. And we reduced the deficit without raising taxes. So the agreement, it was a step in the right direction. But from our perspective it didnt go far enough. It didnt do enough to address the driver of our debt, autopilot spending. And it didnt do enough to get our economy growing again. Nearly five years after the recession, many families still havent recovered. Over the past five years, Economic Growth has been consistently failing to meet expectations. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office has consistently lowered its economic forecast. The budget and the economy are closely linked. Just as a weak economy can drag the budget in the red, a responsible budget can help propel the economy forward. So if washington is serious about helping working families, or serious about getting families out of work back to work, then it needs to get serious about our National Debt. And if recent events are any indication we also need to get serious about our national defense. The world has gotten only more dangerous. And yet the president wants to cut defense spending even further. Under his budget, the army would shrink to preworld war i world war ii levels, the navy to preworld war i levels, and the air force to its smallest size ever. Half of the cruiser fleet would be in dry dock. We would retire both the a10 and the u2. And we would have just ten Carrier Strike groups. In we stay on our current path we will put both our economy, and our National Security, at risk. Thats why we wrote this budget. Because we owe it to the country to lay out an alternative. We believe every person deserves a fair shot at a brighter future. Everyone deserves an america that works. We owe the American People a responsible, balanced budget. Because a balanced budget will expand opportunity by creating jobs and by supporting our military, it will help keep our country safe. The president s budget, it never balances, ever. Our budget, on the other hand, balances in ten years. And it puts us on the path to paying off our debt, so that our children and grandchildren can inherit a debtfree future. How do we do it . First we stop spending money we dont have. We cut waste and we make muchneeded reforms to save 5. 1 trillion over the next ten years. Our critics may call this steep. But look at it this way. On the current path, the federal government will spend roughly 48 trillion over the next ten years. By contrast this budget will spend nearly 43 trillion. On the current path, spending will grow on average 5. 2 a year. Under our budget, spending will grow on average 3. 5 a year. Nearly 43 trillion is enough. Increasing spending by 3. 5 instead of 5. 2 is hardly draconian. Under this plan, we will expand opportunity by growing our economy. We will provide families with a fair, simple, tax code to boost wages, and create jobs. We will restore fairness by cutting spending and combatting cronyism. We will strengthen the safety net to help people get back on their feet. And we will secure seniors retirement by strengthening medicare and other vital programs. Now i know our friends on the other side might dispute this point. But remember, it was obamacare that ended medicare as we know it. Remember, it was obamacare that sut 700 billion from medicare. It was obamacare that set up a board of 15 unelected bureaucrats to ration care for seniors. And thats why this budget will repeal obamacare in its entirety. We will end the raid on medicare. We will make no changes for those in or near retirement and as for the next generation, they will get to choose from a number of plans, including a traditional medicare option so that they can find a plan that works best for them. Cbo says such an approach would lower costs for taxpayers and for seniors. Its a winwin. Finally, this budget will protect our National Security. Its the first responsibility of the federal government. It will provide our troops the training, the equipment, and the compensation they need. The budget resolution rejects the president s budget and adds 274 billion more to our military. Under our plan, the army will maintain its current strength, we will have 11 carriers and a full cruiser fleet, key modernization programs like the joint Strike Fighter will stay on track, and we will fully fund the president s request for veterans affairs. This budget will keep our National Security strong, and make our economy even stronger. Cbo says the deficit reduction in this budget will produce stronger and stronger Economic Growth over time. By 2024 according to cbo real economic output will be 1. 8 higher than otherwise would be or about 1,100 per person and they will continue to grow going forward. After five years of big spending, and little results, we think its irresponsible to take more from hardworking families to spend more in washington. Its just that simple. Every family must balance their budget. Washington should do the same. And with the right reforms in place we can strengthen our National Security, we can foster a healthier economy, create jobs, and raise takehome pay. And with that, id like to recognize the Ranking Member for his opening remarks. Well, thank you mr. Chairman. And let me thank the chairman for making sure we structure our debate and conversation in a civil way. As the chairman said, we have very sharp differences. We will express them clearly. But at the end of the day, weve been able to conduct business to this committee in a civil manner. Now we agree on one thing, mr. Chairman. And that is that budgets are a reflection of our vision for america. They reveal our priorities. They demonstrate what we value. And what we dont. They are about fundamental choices for the future direction of our country. The president has presented a budget that will help boost job growth, sharpen americas competitive edge, expand opportunity, and protect our nation. Now we have a republican budget. Of all the reckless republican budg budgets we have seen, a regret to say, this one is the worst for america. Many will argue that this budget should not be taken seriously because it will go nowhere in the senate. But the public should take it very seriously. Because it tells people exactly what our republican colleagues in congress would do if they had the power to impose their will on the country. So what does this budget mean for america . What choices does it make . At its core, this budget rigs the rules of the game for wealthy special interests at the expense of everyone else. It cuts tax rates for multimillionaires by onethird, while it guts vital investments in our childrens future, squeezes the middle class, and violates important commitments to our seniors. China and our economic competitors will eat our lunch in the global arena if we pass this budget. It provides perverse incentives to ship american jobs overseas, while shortchanging investments in jobs here at home. As we will see today, it makes historically reckless cuts in areas that help power our economy. Education, scientific research, innovation, advanced manufacturing, and Diverse Energy sources. All told, its cults to nondiscretionary spending are a staggering 791 billion below the already unsustainable sequester level. That takes those investments to almost 40 lower as a share of our economy than at any time in the last 50 years through republican and democratic administrations. And at a time when we should be modernizing our infrastructure, this budget slashes the transportation budget by a whopping 52 billion this year alone. Stopping new projects, and throwing construction workers off their jobs. It will condemn the United States to a potholed road of economic decline, and it rejects the one measure that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, could immediately unleash more Economic Activity and grow our economy, comprehensive immigration reform. So, lets dig into these numbers a little bit. Starting with our kids education, which is vital to a Bright Future for all of us. The saddest part about this budget is that it casts a dark shadow over the american dream. It violates the fundamental promise that every hardworking american should have a fair shot at success. At a time when we need to be investing more in our kids education, it slashes funding for education and job training by over 145 billion. And after cutting that part of the education budget, it then cuts current policy support for Higher Education by another 205 billion. Students who want to go to college will have a very rough time unless theyre born to welltodo families. This budget eliminates the one guaranteed source of pell grants. It starts charging students interest on their loan while theyre in college. It discontinues the College Tuition tax credits for middle income families. And it reverses new efforts to relieve the debt burden upon many students. So much for addressing the lack of upward mobility. Rung by rung this budget knocks the steps off the ladder of opportunity. If youre to the manner born, cheers. For everybody else, hogwash. Take seniors as our next example. Those on medicare will immediately pay more, immediately for diagnostic screening and other Preventive Health services. Those with high Prescription Drug costs will see the doughnut hole reopen, and their prices will skyrocket. Seniors with high drug costs will pay nearly 1200 more per year on average. Millions of seniors in Nursing Homes will be especially hurt by the reckless cuts to medicaid. Over twothirds of the base Medicaid Program supports the elderly, and the disabled. This budget cuts the Medicaid Budget in the last year by 25 . In addition to repealing the medicaid provisions in the Affordable Care act. At the same time, it ends the current medicare guarantee, forcing guarantee forces seniors to face large premium increases. And on top of all that, it keeps the medicare sequester cut on Health Care Providers to the tune of 140 billion. Middle class families are also very hard hit and they will see the tax burden increase to finance winfall tax breaks for the very wealthy. Its as if chairman camps realitybased tax reform bill never existed. Its as if he was beamed up because while his tax reform proposal has a top rate of 35 , this one again says youre going to reach 25 . The math doesnt change year to year, mr. Chairman. If you reduce the top rate for millionaires by one third, from 39 to 25 , you will increase the tax burden on middle income families with kids by an average of 2,000 each. This budget also delivers probably its cruelest blow to those who are seeking to climb out of pofr tan into the middle class. It reveals that much of the postelection talk of addressing Poverty Issues was just that, im afraid, talk. During the last election governor romney stated he wasnt focused on helping the 47 . We remember that. This budget sets out the prove that. Its nothing short of an assault on americans struggling to stay afloat economically. The cuts to food nutrition programs and medicaid are designed to help prevent people falling into deep poverty. This gets rid of those safety nets. Mr. Chairman, we remember the big debate just last year over the farm bill. Republican colleagues proposed 40 billion in cuts. In the end it was 8 billion after much debate. This budget, 125 billion plus cuts to food and nutrition programs. And this whole strategy, this whole ideologically is premised on the false and pernicious notion that providing struggling families with minimal food and nutrition support zaps their willingness to work, their motivation. As if taking away minimal food and nutrition programs will somehow have more jobs pop up and people will be running to those jobs. It is no wonder that faith groups have criticized past republican budgets as failing to meet basic moral standards and this, i believe, is the worst yet. Now, our colleagues say this is all necessary. These bitter austerity measures are necessary to reduce the deficit but if thats really republicans pair mount concern, why do they refuse to close one single tax break to help reduce the deficit . Not one. They say they dont want to pass on debts to future generations but apparently dont care enough about that to reduce a tax break for a koch brother or any other special tax. Why place all the burden of deficit reduction on middle class, kids, seniors and middle class who dont have tax preferred stock options. Finally, and mr. Chairman, i have to say this is the thing that probably most upsets republican colleagues, this budget does not balance. It is a total fraud. Its a total fraud to claim that this budget balances in ten years at the same time republicans have voted more than 50 times to repeal the Affordable Care act. Why . Why is that true . Because this budget includes all the medicare savings from the Affordable Care act. It includes every penny of revenue from the Affordable Care act. That is 2 trillion from the Affordable Care act embedded in this republican budget. So if youre repealing the Affordable Care act, youre repealing those provisions. This budget takes away the benefits of the Affordable Care, plugging the doughnut hole but it keeps all the savings and all the revenue, 2 trillion and does not balance 10 years from now without those revenues and save frgs the Affordable Care act. So you got to choose. You cant have it both ways. No one will be fooled. Either youre in favor of keeping all those provisions from the Affordable Care act or youre going to claim a balanced budget but it is just not true to claim both at the same time. So, mr. Chairman, were looking forward to a spirited debate about the choices that are made in this budget. We think it is the wrong direction for america. We will have an alternative proposal. The president s already put an alternative proposal on the budget but we do look forward to a healthy debate about these choices so thank you. The Ranking Member does not disappoint. Thank you. Now we will take our 50minutes whatever left, 53 minutes left, yeah, 53 left and distribute to our side and then the minority. I yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia, the vice chair, mr. Price. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Clearly the American People know that the path were on wont work. The economys not thriving. Record deficits continue. And the mantra of division trying to divide the country, not unify the country continues. We have just had a display of just now. The other side seems to be happy with the doldrums in the american environment. Fewer success stories. More jobs leaving america. Higher taxes. Borrowing more money from foreign countries. Compromising opportunities for future generations. We believe theres a better way. Real solutions. And thats our budget. A responsible, balanced budget. A path to prosperity for all. The chairman mentioned increasing spending for defense and National Security. This is a dangerous world. Getting more dangerous by the day. We account for that in our budget. The president irresponsibly seems to bury his head in the sand. In my short time i want to talk about a couple specific issues. As a physician i recognize that health care is in upheaval. Docs are leaving the practices. Seniors are losing their doctors. Our budget positively addressing these issues. We save and strengthen and secure medicare. How . By positive reform. More choices. Putting patients at the center not government. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office in a report last september shows that our solution, get this, mr. Chairman, our solution saves money for both seniors and the government, both. Real solutions. Another exciting difference between our budget and the president s budget and i know the other sides budget, we understand that a growing economy is vital to getting things back on track. The past five years have been dismal and they havent helped. The Congressional Budget Office evaluated our proposed policies and said if were able to institute our plan of saving over 5 trillion over 10 years that there would be significant benefit to the economy. Realistic scoring shows and i quote, the cbo, Congressional Budget Office finds that reducing budget deficits is a net positive for Economic Growth. Deficit reduction creates longterm economic benefits because it increases the pool of National Savings and boosts investment thereby raising Economic Growth and job creation. These benefits are both significant and lasting. This dynamic would reduce budget deficits or increase budget surpluses by roughly 82 billion in 2023. Thats right. With 5 trillion in excess of deficit reduction we would boost the economy. This is an exciting and realistic appraisal of action. Im proud to stand with my fellow Budget Committee members and commend the staff for the work they have done and i urge support of this positive solution. Now well hear from mr. Garrett, two minutes. And i thank you. Thank the chairman. Thank the chairman for all the work hes work into this budget and all the committee staff, as well, for this resolution that comes before the committee today. You know, American Families and butzs continue to struggle in our country. The struggle against the reality of this the obama economy. For more than five years now, more than five years since the recession hit, longterm unemployment in this country persists. And when job seekers do find a job, well, they too often find that that its a part time work and thats their only option. So contrary to the rosy proclamation that is we often hear from the administration, the job market really is struggling to regain its foothold. And thats just not me saying this. This is not partisan rhetoric. It was chair yellen that remarked recently, and i quote, the existence of such a large pool of partly unemployed workers is a sign that Labor Conditions are worse than indicated by the unemployment rate. End quote. So this reality is symptomatic actually of a more fundamental problem. It is a job destroying trifecta, if you will. Its obamacare, overregulation and its deficit spending. Otherwise known as obamanomics. Its holding back a solid economic turnaround for all americans. So today what will we do about it . Today this committee will pass a fiscal blueprint to counter five years of policy that is have not worked for the average american. Budget plan well consider today is a plan for growth. This budget is grounded on basic math. Basic mathematical principle you cannot fix the debt problem until you get the budget under control. And as many have long said, we need a balanced budget plan to prevent further dipping into the red. We need a balanced budget to give creators of jobs a reason to hire. I urge my members from both sides of the aisle to accomplish that by passing this budget today. I yield back. Thank you. Now well hear two minutes from the gentleman from california, mr. Campbell. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This is my ninth year and last year on this committee and i would just like to make sort of two points on my way out. I remember when dick cheney at Vice President said deficits didnt matter and the friends on the other side of the aisle jumped on that and now seems the Obama Administration took the same tact that deficits dont matter but in between those two statements there was a period of time in which there was bipartisan agreement and understanding that deficits do matter. That they mortgage the future and they inhibit growth in the present. We all know whats going to happen today and we all know what will happen with the budget this year. But i hope that next year when im not here but most of you are that we get back to that bipartisan understanding that deficits do matter. We will disagree on how to accomplish a balanced budget. But those disagreements and those arguments are worth having. To argue that somehow the deficits dont matter and that we dont need to balance this budget is simply wrong. Second point id like to make is about the entitlements. We have had people sit in this witness chair from the left, the right and the center for all of these nine years and say that the entitlement spending is unsustainable, that social security, medicare, medicaid the rest of them will not survive if we dont reform them. That is something again on which there should be bipartisan agreement. Maybe we disagree on how to reform them but not only should we reform them for their own sake but increasingly the entitlements are squeezing out the spending priority tons right and the left and thats something upon which we should be able to agree, as well. We wont agree today but i hope that we can start to set in place the Building Blocks to where perhaps next year these two things can be dealt with and i yield back. Mr. Mcclintock . Were going to skip order a little bit and i yield two minutes to mr. Mcclintock. Thank you, mr. Chairman. August of 2010 the chairman of the joint chiefs warned us the greatest threat to the National Security was our National Debt. We have gone another 4 trillion deeper in debt since he gave that warning. Indeed, since Inauguration Day 2009, this nation has piled up more new debt than we had acquired from the first day of the George Washington administration into the third year of the george w. Bush administration. We were told this would jumpstart the economy but it hasnt. Instead, its deprived markets of the capital that would otherwise be loaned to businesses seeking to expand jobs, to consumers seeking to make purchases and to home buyers seeking to reenter the housing market. We all know if you live beyond your means today you are going to have to live below your means in the future. That is the future that weve created for our children. Balancing this budget and ultimately paying down the National Debt is a National Security imperative. It is an economic imperative. And it is a moral imperative. Now under chairman ryans leadership the house is poised to pass the fourth budget in a row that will ultimately balance. That stands in stark contrast to the president s budget that never balances and that condemns our nation to a debt spiral that will consume our future. It does so by reforming and reorganizing our social safety nets, preventing their impending bankruptcy and restoring them to sound financial foundations for the generations to come. Time is not our ally. Every day we delay the problem becoming more intractable and the road back becomes more difficult, protracted and perilous. We are told by the Ranking Member not to bother since the senate and president will never agree to put our nation back on the road to solvency. Sadly, thats true. I look baurd to a day perhaps not long off when they will become willing partners to balance our budget and by doing so to restore our nations prosperi prosperity, security and future. Thank you. Now well hear two minutes from the gentle lady of tennessee, ms. Black. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Again, i want to thank you for your leadership on this very important issue. You unlike the president s budget, this budget is the serious proposal that balances our budget and helps our economy grow. We all know that our nation is 17. 4 trillion in debt and if we want to preserve this country for our children and our grandchildren, we must reform the way that washington works. Everyone knows that medicare will soon go bankrupt and thats why im happy that this Budget Proposal saves this Important Program for our seniors and for future generations. By transitioning into a premium support model, we can preserve medicare for those in near retirement and strengthen medicare for younger generations. Furthermore, this budget ends the obamacare raid on the Medicare Trust fund and repeals the independent payment board to ensure the seniors get the care they deserve. And despite what some critics say, this does not eliminate traditional medicare. Instead, it ensures that americans will always have traditional medicare as an option. Under this plan, every senior will have the support they need to get the care that they deserve. And those who attack this reform without offering a credible alternative are can come police sit in medicares demise. So i want to commend chairman ryan and my republican colleagues on the Budget Committee for leading where president obama and the Senate Democrats have failed. One way or another, this country will have to address our out of control debt and deficits and this budget does so responsibly. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and i yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. At this time id like to yield two minutes to the gentleman of wisconsin, mr. Ripple. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for having the markup today n. This hyper politically partisan environment that we live in here in the congress, these are difficult, difficult decision that is have to be made. Somehow we have to find a way to do them. Not exactly sure. I listened to the Ranking Members comments about the difficult sy of this budget. He used the word bad. I might say tough. The longer we put off our decisions, the longer we delay, im in my fourth year in congress and we havent really made the moves to make the tough decisions and bad decisions that need to happen today become worse decisions tomorrow. Harder decisions. More difficult decisions. Mainly on the next generation of americans. At some point, tough decisions have to be made. Theyre not going to be fun. I do kind of reject the idea that whats happened in the last couple of years have been a austeri austerity. The budget we faced last year under any metric would have been among the worst in u. S. History but today its redefined as an austerity budget which is just a shocking capitulation of common sense in my opinion. Its an astounding thing to even think in those terms. But in light of 1. 3 trillion deficits when i came here in 2011, i guess maybe you could make some type of argument along that way but we have not gone far enough. Its we have to begin to move and make the decisions. Every Single Person that comes in here and testifies, whether its the cbo or rmb, they plead with us. Actuaries plead with us to fix these things. Im proud were tabling the step to fix them. With that, i yield back. Thank you. Thank you. With that id like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. Flores. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As a cpa thats also been a person that created hundreds of Good American jobs in the energy industry, i know theres two basic functions of budget to balance the budget. Number one is set the expenses with the basic needs and with the realities that youre faced with. And secondly, and more importantly, you grow your income. In this case, this budget grows our National Income in order to grow tax receipts to balance the budget. And our budget like i said deals head on with both of these basic economic principles. I want to discuss the latter and thats how to improve Economic Growth and thereby improve revenues. The obama economy let me start by saying this is hardest on the lowest income americans and resulted in to the lower Labor Force Participation since the disastrous economic years of jimmy carter. The better way is to embrace Energy Revolution in the american job renaissance of a couple of years despite the administrations efforts to move us in a different way. For example, what we had an energy bill on the floor of the house that i introduced a few weeks ago. It had support of everybody from Manufacturing Companies to unions to Energy Companies and it reflected a real world way to get our economy going again. Americans support our commission of American Energy security by the year 2020 and our budget incorporates these and i hope well move forward on using those basic principles. I would like to add one additional comment. Any budget thats based on real world principles of reforming expenses and growing an income should not be called a fraud and i think that statement goes beyond the pale. And with that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. With that id like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from indiana, mr. Rokido. I thank the chairman. Yes, it was me that was clapping for purposes of the record in case theres discipline to be done. I think he was exactly right and thats what this budget does. This is a restatement of the problems that were fiscal problems were facing in the public sector, particularly the federal government in this country. Number one, that deficits do matter. And number two, that 10,000 people a day are retiring into social entitlement programs that left unreformed are simply not sustainable and witness after witness again from the left, right, to the center, have explained that to us. And the benefit of this budget and the reason to do it is we continue to have this very direct and honest conversation with the American People about what needs to be done. Mr. Chairman, ill never forget the first time that we introduced this budget. The Immediate Response and i think three or four years ago came about 24 hours later. Was it another or alternative subs instantive policy issue that was brought forward, a different idea . No. It was a commercial with a rather tall man, i like to think they were characterizing me but the man was much too skinny pushing an elderly person in a wheelchair off a cliff. Thats what serves for the discussion. I hope we can get beyond that in year four of this budget to the extent that the substantive policy alternative is taxes people more, let me just say. You can change the chairmans money, George Soross money, todd rokitos money and as long as people at 10,000 a day retire into unreformed systems we wont have enough money to pay for this budget. We could take 100 of what people make and that it wont solve the problem. I yield back. Thank you. Now like to yield two minutes to the gentle lady from tennessee, i think she is next, yep. Ms. Blackburn. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Apologize for my tardiness. We have an Internet Freedom hearing going in energy and commerce. But i thank you for the budget and the work that you have done, and i join my colleagues in being concerned about what this obama economy is doing to our country. I think that because of the debt and the annual deficits our children and grandchildren are being robbed of the Economic Freedom that is rooted in the american dream. It is the ultimate cap in trade. Last year, cbo predicted the u. S. Economy would grow on average by 2. 9 each year over the next decade. Now, theyre predicting thats only going to be 2. 5 . The economy is shrinking before our very eyes and wrapping up what Economic Opportunity was left and it is being wrapped in regulatory red tape. Also of concern to me as i look at the longterm budget analysis is that only 63 of the American People have a job or are looking for one. Thats the lowest level since 1978. They are losing faith and trust in this economy. We can do better and once again this committee is showing the American People that there is, indeed, another way. A better way to move back to preserving the american dream. We dont have to sit back and accept the status quo thats brought us crushing debt, big bloated budgets that never balance and fewer choices when it comes to our own health care. I like the fact that this budget would balance in ten years, provides a simple and fair tax code and strengthens programs like medicare by giving seniors, by giving and allowing seniors more choice and options over their health care. I yield back my time. Thank you. At this time i like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. Ridge el. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I really do appreciate your leadership on this critical issue. The fact that our committee and i believe our conference had the courage and the wisdom to boldly confront what is truly i think the most significant threat facing our country which is our fiscal trajectory. I also want to thank the Ranking Member mr. Van hollen. Ive always appreciated the way hes aappreciated this. Theres spirited debates and been civil about it and i appreciate that not only from him but my democratic colleagues here today. Some said we didnt need to have this debate. And i made the case that we did need to have this debate and pass the resolution because it brings to the attention the American People the clear, contrast that i see between the two parties, really. We have had as i see it as republicans we have responsibly, not perhaps perfectly, but responsibly picked up the third rail of politics, mandatory spending and not met with a good faith effort as i see it from our friends on the other side. Im proud of our work there and it seems to me that theres a central theme i often hear is that from the other side is we care more, spending more because we care more. Ill just let you know. I reject the premise. What were doing here is because indeed we care about every one of these areas from defense to job creation and we are a bit more focused on growth. Making sure that we open up our energy opportunities. 85 of the coastline of our country is closed off to exploration. Theres a wonderful contrast here today. I look forward to the debate and at the end of the day id ask my colleagues both sides to support this resolution. I yield back. Thank you. At this time id like to yield two minutes to the gentle lady of missouri. Missouri or missouri . I say missouri. Okay. Missouri. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As i travel through missouri, my constituents express their concerns with the lack of the right priorities in washington including not providing for the common defense plus concerns like excessive Government Spending increased taxes and overregulation. Our federal debt exceeds 17 trillion. This creates anxiety and uncertainty for all americans and im proud to join my colleagues and support a responsible budget that provides regulatory relief, promotes a Strong Defense and balances the budget in ten years. The American People deserve a brighter, safer future. We have seen president obama direct over 1 trillion in cuts to the military since he took office. While we cut nearly one fifth of our defense resources, russia and china are arming at an alarming rate. Russias military spending is up roughly 30 and chinas has more than doubled. If we want to reverse this trend, we must realign our national priorities. It is imperative we build upon the recent compromise and further reverse the current trajectory to mitigate the permanent damage to our National Security. The reality is we cannot keep going back to did d. O. D. To cut spending. We cannot ask our men and women in uniform to balance our budget. Its time to address the real drivers of our debt. In addition to replacing 274 billion in scheduled defense cuts, this budget promotes job creation streamlining Career Training programs and encouraging progrowth tax reform. Additionally, we relieve hard working americans from the costly burdens of obamacare. So im proud to support a budget that lowers taxes and reprioritizes our national defense. I yield back. Thank you. At this time id like to yield two minutes to the gentle lady of indiana. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I hear daily from hoosiers in the 2nd district asking me to support policies to create jobs and boost the economy. Reduce our more than 17 trillion debt. They want me to support policies that ensure our kids have a shot at the american dream. This common sense budget resolution does just that. It promotes job creation. It supports energy expansion, moves toward energy dependence. It rolls back federal red tape. This budget protects seniors and lowincome americans by ensuring that medicare and safety net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be sustainable in the long term, protecting the programs for the americans that depend upon them. It provides state flexibility in medicaid, strengsens the work requirements and makes Structural Reforms to medicare. This budget will help to reduce poverty, boost economic mobility and strngen our national economy, increases funding for veterans, supporting a Strong National defense. Provides a responsible, sustainable plan for our economy. Thank you and i yield back my time. Id like too yield two munlts to another moozier. Mr. Messier. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you ruling member van hollen for this hearing today. The reality is that in todays economy, too Many Americans are struggling to find good jobs. Their paychecks are shrinking, theyre working harder but theyre falling further behind. Why . The answers really pretty simple. Because this economy isnt fostering the creation of enough good paying jobs. Hard working americans deserve a healthy economy where everyone has a shot at a brighter future. Thats why todays budget is all about. This budget resolution is a responsibly plan for creating a strong economy. That means tightening our belts, balancing the books and making did government live within its means. That means making sure the social safety net provides a hand up and not a handout. That means spending tax dollars more wisely. This budget resolution may be revolutionary to some simply because it calls on congress to make choices. Neither party has been very good at that for quite a while now. Thats why Congress Spends billions it doesnt have each year. Thats why our debt exceeds 17 trillion. Thats why medicares going broke. There are no easy answers but there are simple ones. The path to prosperity, the road toward leaving our country better than we found it demands the choices be made. We can act now so that america controls its own destiny and follows a path of our choosing or we can kick the can down the road. Mr. Chairman, i am proud to support this budget resolution because it will help create genuine opportunities for people to find better paying jobs and improve their own lives. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. Next id like to yield two minutes to the gentleman of south carolina, mr. Rice. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The number one issue in my district and i believe the number one issue in the country is jobs. Five year s after the great recession, the economy continues to struggle and far too Many Americans remain out of work. We can solve this problem. Its not rocket science. We can build our economy and put hard working folks back to work if only we will take a few steps to make america more competitive. Just like counties across the country compete for jobs, states lower tax raits and streamline regulations to attract industry and jobs, we must adopt an attitude here in washington that we will compete in the world. If we expect to stop sending our jobs overseas and bring american jobs back home. If we retain the worlds highest Corporate Tax rate, how can we expect to compete in the world . If washington continues to spend more money than we take in threatening our entire economy how can we expect to compete in the world . If we continue to build upon our already oppressing regulatory burden, how can we expect to compete in the world . This is where i believe my friends across the aisle miss the mark. They seem to believe that somehow making this country competitive ben filths only the wealthy. But the truth is that people with high assets or high skills will do well in a global environment. They can compete from anywhere but the longer we wait to enter the global competition for jobs the more bedamage the hard working folks in the biddle class. We will not grow our economy or put people back to work by expanding entirtd lmentes. If america will enter the global competition for jobs, our economy will accelerate. The sky is the limit. If we simply decide to compete no one can stop us. This is not republican or a democrat issue. This is an american issue. Thank you. Next id like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas mr. Wums. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Id like to echo what many have said and thank you for putting together a smart, responsible budget for americans to see washington can lead by america. Everyone in america has to balance their familys budget or businesss budget every single day. As many of you know im a Small Business owner. I still own a business and ive done that for 44 years. The importance of balancing a budget is certainly not lost on me. By cutting waste, fraud and abuse, fixing the broken tax code, the government can be a team player and play a supporting role in righting our nations fiscal ship. Well lower unemployment. By reining well create a progrowth environment to encourage businesses to expand. By expanding Domestic Energy production like we have done in my home state of texas we can help shrink the deficit and put people back to work and by balancing the budget well help to rebuild a healthy economy. The importance of making sure Americas Energy independent is more crucial than its ever been. Nows the time to free Energy Production from continued federal regulations. Energy production can be limitless just like we see in north dakota where unemployment is lower than 3 and in my state and midland, texas, 2. 4 . These are real jobs and good paying jobs and endless. While this administrations continued to penalize competitive sources of energy by picking winners and losers, the path to prosperity will open more federal lands to Energy Development than ever before. Our economy cannot begin to grow without reform. President obama proposed more economically significant regulations in his first four years than previous administrations have in last 15 years combined. Regulations alone cost families and Small Businesses 1. 7 trillion per year with additional 87 billion in regulatory costs of 2014, these additional burdens continue to stifle competition and job creation. By removing harmful bare yerls and freeing butzs from unnecessary regulations, americas best days are ahead of us and without that americas best days are behind us. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you. And next id like to yield two minute to the gentleman of oklahoma, mr. Cole. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate you yielding the time. I applaud you for putting this budget together. I know from the meetings we have had theres a lot of thought put into how to maintain the commitment to Economic Growth. 17 trillion National Debt. Additionally, mr. Chairman i want to thank you again for not backing down with the true drivers out debt. It would have been very easy given the bipartisan budget act set to 302 aloe cases for fiscal year 2015 to not do a budget. However, this budget, this blueprint, yet again, allows us to share our vision for the new which you are. I was disappointed to see the president reversed himself and the budget submission removing change cpi but the House Republicans are willing to work with the president where possible and find Common Ground to move our budget trajectory downward instead of increasing. Im encouraging that the cap set in the bipartisan budget act of fiscal year 2015 included in this budget. As a me believe of the defense appropriations subcommittee i have seen the devastating cuts and end strength capables well continue to face if we continue with sequester and instead of going back to the well this year, with even more discretionary cuts, we have ensured that theyre available for all in the future. I dont think the defense reductions in the budget control act are wise or sustainable. Congress and the Administration Must address this issue no later than early next year. Many criticized this budget for moving the goal posts and now transitioning to a premium support model for those 56 and below. However, mr. Chairman, we have to face facts. Every year that we do not act it becomes harder and harder to preserve the current programs for those already at or near retirement. This budget recognizes that hard reality and adjusts itself accordingly. I hope this budget sempbs as a wakeup call that its time to act. I know here in washington that we can become anecessary tized to the problems of the country. But theyre real and must be addressed. One where we control our destiny opposed to turning over control to the creditors. I implore my friends to seek Common Ground in the proposals so that these programs we all find so important can be preserved for future generations w. That i yield back my time. Thank you. Next id like to yield to another oklahoman, mr. Lankford. Thank you, mr. Chairman. That is culmination of a tremendous amount of this committee, staff and individual me believes. Theres some interesting conversations in this, the facts and figures. One is cbo yet again comes out and sees a declining economy as we continue to see revenues fall in the future years. Thats showing that the poll sis put in place by this president are not turning this economy around and we have to do something more aggressive to be able to deal with this and the focal point of that is really getting us back to how do we balance the budget, pay down the debt, get Economic Activity and business working again . It is hard to believe how far we have fallen as a nation when a conversation about balancing the budget becomes a controversial conversation. This towns namesake, a gentleman named washington i think would be slightly embarrassed based on the conversation. Let me read from his farewell address at the end of his two terms as president he said avoid likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense but by vig you xerpgss in time of peace to us charge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasion. Not throwing upon prosperity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. We have the responsibility to take this on. And not continue to throw on our prosperity the burdens that we ought to bear. I think it would be wise for this committee to think about the words of our first president and the namesake of this town and to consider well how are we going to take responsibility for the burden of this generation . We have the highest amount of tax revenue ever in the history of the nation. Ever. The economy continues to slow down, regulations continue to increase. Lets get back to business and growing the economy and deal with the debt rather than passing it on. With that i yield back. I would like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from mississippi, mr. Nunnally. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This week my former colleagues in the Mississippi Legislature are wrapping up their session and they have sat around and made very difficult choices. Their families all around america that are doing exactly what my wife and i did almost two decades ago when we came on very tough times. You sit around the kitchen table. You may shed tears but you make those tough choices and you move on. Those families, the legislators around the nation balancing their budgets, the city and county government that is are balancing their budgets have every reason to expect those of us in washington to do the same thing and for the fourth year in a row this committees drafted a balanced budget that makes the tough but necessary choices about out of control spending. This path to prosperity seeks to expand opportunity and jobs by highlighting policies that will grow the economy. Right now, the bureau of labor statistics reports 10. 5 million americans that are unemployed. But they also say we have 4 million job openings. The gap in the numbers is partially due to derepublictive work force Training Programs around the bureaucracy that lets down our citizen who is are seeking jobs. By streamlining these programs we are not only achieving savings but enable the workers and job seekers to respond quickly and effectively to career challenges. In addition to reforming job Training Programs this budget before us makes longterm Higher Education reforms including for example changes to return of Title Iv Fund regulations, increasing the amount of time a student to attend class before they withdraw without debt owed for back assistance increases and the likelihood of students xlooeting their courses and lowers incentives for fraud so i think its imperative we adopt this path to properity and put our nation on a path we need to go. Thank you. I yield back. I think that wraps the opening comments of the members. Ill consume a little bit of time to wrap up and conclude. I think mr. Mcclintock got it just right. He said and this is actually axiomatic. If you live beyond your means today you will have to live below your means tomorrow. We all know that thats true. If we buy too much house and too much mortgage, we know that we are hurting ourselves in the future. Heres our problem. This is a generational thing. We in this generation are living beyond our means today, deficit, deficit, deficit, debt, debt, debt. The debt is at 17 trillion on its way to 24 trillion. Were not going to have to pay this. Our kids and our grand kids are going to have to pay this. So well live beyond our means today and the next generations will have to live below their means tomorrow. Cbo says it very clearly. Were guaranteeing lower Living Standards for the next generations. What cbo also tells us is, look, the sooner you get on top of this problem, the better off everybodys going to be. The more we delay to fix these fiscal problems the uglier the solutions inevitably have to be. Thats what were saying. This is why were doing a budget. We could have easily phoned it in this year. We had this agreement. The apropose raters are yiwriti the bills. Thats a good thing. The power of the purse is coming back to the house. We could say we dont have to do it this year. But if we dont like the direction the country is headed and we dont then we feel an obligation so say how we would do things differently and thats what this budget does. This is the fourth year in a row where we have produced a budget. One that balances. One that shows how we would do it. Now, my friend to my left here said that this is a bitter austerity budget. Thats what you have if you dont fix this fiscal problem. Bitter austerity is what you get once a debt crisis hits. Bitter austerity is whats going on in europe right now. Bitter austerity is we didnt fix this problem when we had time to fix it. We didnt ahead of the problem and solve these things and now we have bitter austerity just like theyre doing in europe cutting the safety net. Pulling the rug out from people after they retired and social chaos as a result and a really slow economy and a lost decade or two. We are trying to preempt bitter austerity. I remember 2008 like it was yesterday. A lot of us were here then. Remember that crash . Remember t. A. R. P. And the things . Ben bernanke and Hank Paul Sen telling us we might have a depression on the hands and all of us sat there thinking how did this happen . How could we have prevented this . And then we found out this is what happened in the real estate market. This is what happened with mortgagebacked securities. We know the rest of the story. The point im making is that crisis caught us by surprise. That crisis cost millions of people their jobs. That crisis cost trillions of dollars of wealth vanished in the world economy. This crisis, this debt crisis thats on our horizon, is the most predictable crisis we have ever had. We know this is coming. We see it. Everybody knows this. Cbo puts it in plain english and black and white math for us. So are we going to keep just whistling past the graveyard . Are we going to keep offering budgets to congress that never, ever balance or are we going to get on top of our problems . Look. At the end of the day there is a difference in philosophy. And thats good. I mean, thats what a twoparty system is all about. Thats healthy. And it would be nice to sort of detoxify the rhetoric a little bit and try to figure out how we get to the goal were all trying to get to, a more prose prous and peaceful country where everybody can get ahead. But what we do in this budget is we reject this onesizedfits all all communities are alike and washington knows best. Its like theres a bureaucracy that knows more, can better guide our lives and our communities better than we can. We reject this idea. We reject that premise. And we reject the notion that measuring compassion, measuring dedication, measuring our fight for our good things should be only measured in how much money we spend on inputs. Why dont we think about measuring results . Why dont we think about measuring our efforts based on outcomes . Are we achieving our goals . We have some very important principles that created this country. Among those principles is that we have a government that is by consent of the governed. I see a lot of young people in the back. Maybe theyre from a high school or Something Like that. Right . High school . Yeah. Not yet. Okay. They dont get they dont consent to this. They havent voted yet unless theyre seniors. The point im making is, we have to speak for people who cannot speak. We have to speak for people who want to have the american dream, who want the legacy of one generation leaving a better country to the next generation because they dont have a vote yet and when we take a look at these things were trying to do, how we reform our entitlements, how we reform these things, it is amazing howl we really do have a consensus in things in this country like health and retirement security. These are all things we all agree ought to be provided. Government has a really Important Role here but where we probably disagree is government should not have the commanding role. Government shouldnt have the dictorial role. We shouldnt be conceding our consent to a benevolent bureaucracy to tell us how to do these things in our lives like how we get our health care, how we secure our retirements. We believe that people should believe in the drivers seat of their own lives. We believe that people are the nucleus of the economy. We believe that patients are the nucleus of our health care system. We believe that people if given freedom and opportunity can make the most of their lives and we believe in striving for equality of opportunity so that can be their idea of an american idea. That they can get ahead. These are the things that were striving for. Now, were going to hear a lot of rhetoric and were going to hear what i think is a view that looks at life and the economy as some static pie, as if the pie of life and the pie of our economy is some fixed thing. And its really a question of how we divide up the slices more equitabl equitably. We believe this growth. We believe in dine michl. We believe we should grow the pie to get a better slice of the pie. It is not a question of sitting here in government picking winners and losers by cronyism or whatever you want to try to redistribute the slices of the pie. We want to grow the pie for everybody. Now, were going to hear a lot of rhetoric like we have heard in the past. Back in 2011 when we passed our first budget, the appropriations we had in that budget for this fiscal year was 1. 47 trillion for 2015. Back then, that was considered draconian, unserious and many other names were