Chris Van Hollen

Let's put this hearing in context. The Republican budget takes a lopsided approach to addressing our deficit.

This week presents a very clear contrast in the priorities between Republicans and the Democrats in Congress.

While today's hearing is titled 'Strengthening the Safety Net,' it is mostly an effort to sugarcoat a Republican budget that shreds the social safety net while providing gold-plated tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.

It does this by converting Medicaid into a block grant program that provides inadequate funding that fails to keep pace with the need.

I think it is Orwellian to present a budget that tears a huge hole in the safety net as one that is, in fact, designed to strengthen support for vulnerable Americans.

They have a plan for replacing the sequester.

What honest observer of government could disagree?

If I could ask how much time remains? The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland has 4\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from Wisconsin has 5\1/2\ minutes remaining.

Yes, I would. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, our Democratic alternative invests in the President's jobs proposal, a proposal that has been sitting here in the House of Representatives since September. We reduced the deficit in a balanced…

I would just remind my colleagues that at the end of the 8 years of the Bush administration, after the tax cuts, which helped create the deficits, we ended up losing over 600,000 private sector jobs. That's the result of trickle-down…

I thought we were back to reality today instead of in the land of make-believe. Mr. Mulvaney offered an amendment yesterday that was not the President's budget. We debated that last night. I don't know why we're continuing that charade…

I have great respect for the Speaker. I would just suggest that he may call it a tough choice to provide and lock in another round of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while cutting Medicaid by $800 billion, a full one-third, by the…

We'll talk more later about the Democratic alternative and how we address the deficit in a serious and credible way without doing it in a manner that provides a windfall tax break to folks at the top at the expense of everybody else. For…

My friend from South Carolina wants to play make-believe today, but the reality is that this is not the President's budget, and we've already shown you the President's budget. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown).

If the gentleman from South Carolina is prepared to close, I will continue to reserve the balance of my time.

May I inquire as to how much time is remaining? The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland has 5 minutes remaining, and the gentleman from South Carolina has 4 minutes remaining.

I am opposed. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland is recognized for 10 minutes.

I seek recognition to speak on this important issue. The Acting CHAIR. Is the gentleman opposed to the amendment?

I thank the gentlelady for her leadership tonight. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time remains? The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland has 3 minutes remaining.

May I inquire as to how much time is remaining? The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland has 2 minutes remaining.

At this time I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler).

I now yield 1\1/2\ minutes to Mr. Welch of Vermont, a gentleman who has been focused on fiscal responsibility.

I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the ranking member of the Education Committee, Mr. Miller.

I now yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Lee).

I would just urge my friend Mr. Price to again look at the chart presented by the chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr. Ryan, which makes it clear that we have different paths, different approaches, with respect to containing costs. Yet…