Maxwell Frost: “Today, Mr. Speaker, the budgets of the President and the Republican Congress are perpetuating a fraud on the American…”

“Today, Mr. Speaker, the budgets of the President and the Republican Congress are perpetuating a fraud on the American people, one that threatens the economy and Medicare and Social Security, and one that sacrifices priorities like education, prescription drugs, and paying down the debt. Republicans are spinning the ridiculous notion that this budget conference report represents some sort of compromise. What kind of compromise, Mr. Speaker, guts education like this, sacrificing priorities like smaller classes and more qualified teachers? This so-called compromise takes a giant step backward in education, eliminating the $294 billion the Senate added to the House bill, and even cutting education below what the President requested. What kind of compromise guts conservation and renewable energy programs at a time when the American people are crying out for relief from skyrocketing gas prices and an electricity crisis across the West? What kind of compromise, Mr. Speaker, ignores vital defense needs? What kind of compromise, Mr. Speaker, ignores skyrocketing prescription prices and raids the Social Security and Medicare trust funds? Mr. Speaker, make no mistake about it. Let us understand what is happening here. This is not a real document.…”