Mike Honda: “I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva), for yielding. Mr. Chairman, many of our Democratic…”

“I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva), for yielding. Mr. Chairman, many of our Democratic colleagues have already spoken about what is wrong with the House Republican budget and how it slashes our investments in education, infrastructure, research and development, job training, and medical research; how it repeals all the benefits of the Affordable Care Act; how it leaves 7 million Americans without health insurance, ends the Medicare guarantee, and institutes massive cuts to our most vulnerable populations; how it pays for new tax cuts for millionaires by taking away tax breaks that help the working poor and the middle class--and that is all true. But I want to talk about the alternative vision for this country that we in the Progressive Caucus have crafted. The Better Off Budget meets the challenges that our communities face head-on. It expresses our belief that America's future is bright and worth investing in. One of the pieces I am most proud of is the application of the CPI-E to all Federal retirement programs. The CPI-E uses the most accurate and sensible measure of the real costs that seniors face for programs like civil service retirement, military retirement, Supplemental Security Income, and the veterans' pensions. Seniors deserve a cost of living that accounts for the rising costs of retirement, such as health care.…”