Rich Neal: “Since the gentlewoman, my friend from Tennessee, remarked upon economic growth, let me, as one who was here at the time…”

“Since the gentlewoman, my friend from Tennessee, remarked upon economic growth, let me, as one who was here at the time, perhaps correct the Record. Bill Clinton's economic growth was higher than Ron Reagan's, and that is not in dispute. Barack Obama's economic growth was higher than George W. Bush's. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month at the end of the Bush administration, to bring up one point, which, by the way, is closer to 2.1 percent. People here know I follow these issues like a hawk, but the truth is that this budget today that is being put forward is a threat to Medicare and Social Security down the road. The previous speaker said he is concerned about mandatory spending. I gotcha. Put out a plan. Put out a plan on Social Security and Medicare. And don't do it in the backdoor way here as they complain about deficits and they prepare to embrace a tax cut of $1.5 trillion or, over 10 years, $2.2 trillion on top of the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 which amounted to $2.3 trillion. So we are at $5 trillion worth of tax cuts, and the Clinton administration left us with four balanced budgets and $5 trillion worth of surplus. This is not a budget that supports meaningful tax reform. I am ready, and she knows because of our working together in the past, prepared to work with Republicans on fundamental tax reform. The system is begging for it. Don't call tax reform tax reform when it is really a tax cut.…”