On the recordJuly 19, 2011
As part of the plan the President has put on the table that would reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over about 10 to 12 years, he has about a trillion dollars in cuts in discretionary spending. He does ask the Pentagon, which is the one agency that has never passed a GAO audit, to help contribute toward resolving that deficit problem. And he also does it without making deep cuts in critical investments for our country like education, like investment in infrastructure. We're going to see in a couple of weeks a bill that may come out of the Transportation Committee that dramatically slashes infrastructure investments at a time when we have 20 percent unemployment in the construction industry. So, yes, we have to make these cuts. The President's plan makes the cuts. But let's not take a hatchet to education investments. Let's not take a hatchet to investing in critical infrastructure, and let's not enshrine in the Constitution of the United States a preference for cutting Medicare and Social Security over cutting special interest tax loopholes. That's what this provision will do. With that, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus, the gentleman from California (Mr. Becerra).
