Barney Frank: “Mr. Chairman, despite the fact that most of us would rather be home right now, life isn't really very tough for us.…”

“Mr. Chairman, despite the fact that most of us would rather be home right now, life isn't really very tough for us. Tough is not choosing whether you're going to underfund one group or underfund another. Tough is being in the groups that are underfunded. We have it, after all, relatively easy. The people who have it tough are the struggling artists who could use some extra funds so they can make a creative contribution, or the Indian children who are being underfunded. And what is striking about this debate is the implicit acknowledgment that the Republican Party's budget is wholly inadequate to the moral needs of a great Nation. What we have is a dispute, including an intramural Republican dispute, about who among worthy people are we going to hurt the worst. Yes, it is a terrible situation, and people will decide differently as to who they are going to stiff. But let's be very clear. We are in this situation where we have to choose. And people have said Indian health is woefully underfunded, and if we pass the gentleman's amendment it will be woefully underfunded plus 1 percent or 2 percent. People are admitting that the Republican budget gravely underfunds Indian health. Many of us believe it underfunds a number of other things. There's virtual unanimity in this place that we don't have enough money to go around. Why? The economy is doing well. Revenues are coming in at a greater than expected pace.…”