Steven Holt: “I rise to oppose the FY2005 Concurrent Budget Resolution that was reported by the House Budget Committee and that we…”

“I rise to oppose the FY2005 Concurrent Budget Resolution that was reported by the House Budget Committee and that we have before this House for final passage. I do so for a variety of reasons that I want to explain. I am heartened by our country's recent up tick in the index of leading economic indicators. Yet, we are also chastened because we all count among our families, friends, and neighbors, dislocated workers who have fallen victim to corporate down-sizing and dismayed recent college graduates and long-term unemployed Americans who are looking for their first or next jobs. All are seeking to grasp a rung up the ladder of economic opportunity, and this budget will not help them. This misguided budget resolution frames critical policy choices for our national economy that will shape our lives and the lives of all of our constituents at the regional, State, community, and personal levels for many years to come. One policy option, that is embodied in this flawed budget resolution, is to keep borrowing against our future and that of our children, and perhaps their children, to keep our economic ship afloat. This is how we have added more to the national debt in the past three years than in the prior two centuries of our Nation's history. A vote in favor of this budget resolution is a vote for more 'borrow and spend' policies that are responsible for our country's current fiscal nightmare.”