Chris Van Hollen: “And I rise in strong opposition to this budget conference report. I do agree with the gentleman on one issue, which is…”

“And I rise in strong opposition to this budget conference report. I do agree with the gentleman on one issue, which is that the staff of the Budget Committee on both sides, Republican and Democrat, have worked very hard; but, Mr. Speaker, I have to say that the product that is brought before us today is the wrong direction for America. We began with a House budget that was wrong for America, and we went to conference with a Senate budget that was wrong for America. It is not surprising, but it is still disappointing, that we come to the floor today with a budget that is wrong for America. Why do I say that? We are all entitled to our opinions, but we don't get to make up our own facts. The reality is, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the folks who are referees in this House, in this Congress, where people have competing opinions, they have said that this Republican budget will slow down the economy over the next couple of years. It is right here on page 3 of their report. Real GNP, real economic growth per person, would be lowered by as much as 0.6 percent under the specified paths than under the baseline 2016 to 2018 CBO budget estimates. Let's translate that. What that means is that, compared to what would happen in the economy without the Republican budget--if we didn't have this--this will make things worse. This will slow down economic growth.…”