Maxwell Frost: “Mr. Speaker, this year's Republican budget will hurt average Americans just as much as the one they proposed last year.…”

“Mr. Speaker, this year's Republican budget will hurt average Americans just as much as the one they proposed last year. Please, do not be fooled. The budget which Republicans bring to the House floor this week contains the same harsh policy, the deep cuts that hurt seniors and children and families. Last year the American public said to President Clinton, 60 percent of them said please veto this budget, as he did. The issue is not one of balanced budgets. The President has introduced a balanced budget, the Republicans have introduced a balanced budget. The question is who gets hurt in these budgets. In the Republican budget, once again we are looking at hard-working, middle-class families who are going to pay the price in this budget, and not the special interests, not the wealthiest of Americans, because, Mr. Speaker, as we will see in this Republican budget, the tax breaks for wealthy Americans add up to $176 billion and maybe even a little bit more. Is it not ironic and clearly not a coincidence that the cut in Medicare is $167 billion? The money that they cut from Medicare does not go into making Medicare a more sound and solvent system, it goes to pay for those tax breaks. Let us not let them get away with it this time like we did the last time.”