John Yarmuth: “Budgets are a reflection of our values, they are a statement of our priorities, and they are about the choices we make…”

“Budgets are a reflection of our values, they are a statement of our priorities, and they are about the choices we make to set the course for our future. With this budget, Republicans are choosing the well-off and well- connected over middle class families, choosing, for instance, $45 billion in tax subsidies for oil companies whose own executives say they don't need it over veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who are out of work. They choose a new average tax cut of $200,000 per millionaire per year over 170,000 of our Nation's most vulnerable children who would lose Head Start services. Mr. Chair, we just finished with March Madness, and I am very proud of the University of Kentucky Wildcats. They had a great season. But isn't one of the cruel ironies of this debate, Coach Calipari of the University of Kentucky, who makes $5 million a year, roughly, under the Republican budget would get an additional tax cut of $700,000 a year, while the students who support his program would see their Pell grants slashed nationwide by a total of $145 billion over 10 years. Isn't that something? A man who makes $5 million coaching basketball gets a $700,000 tax break, while the students who were suffering and working hard to pay their way through college get slashed. This is one of the choices the budgets are about. This is why the Republican budget is totally out of step with American values. This is why we should reject the Republican budget.”