Kathy Castor: “I thank my colleague, Mr. Van Hollen. Mr. Chairman, Democrats and Republicans agree that deficit reduction is important…”

“I thank my colleague, Mr. Van Hollen. Mr. Chairman, Democrats and Republicans agree that deficit reduction is important; and, in fact, over the past year and a half, we've achieved over $2.7 trillion in debt reduction. But now, the Republicans want to take us through a charade with this Tea Party budget. If enacted, the Republican budget would weaken America's recovery. It would undermine what makes America great and what makes America strong, like education, the ability of students to attend college, medical research and innovation, the ability of our older neighbors to live their lives in dignity in their retirement years through Medicare and long-term care. Now, we get a lot of advice, and economists across the board, in fact our own Congressional Budget Office, advise that the best and fastest way to reduce the deficit is to make sure that people across America have jobs and are working. So it is inexplicable that the Republican budget proposes to eliminate jobs in construction, in education, scientific research, and instead heap the burden on middle class families. Experts predict that the Republican budget will result in job losses of 2 million fewer jobs next year alone, and that's on top of 750,000 jobs lost by the end of the year due to the sequester Republicans will not replace, just as the economy is improving for our neighbors and small businesses back home.…”