Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick: “I do believe that we have a balanced budget before us. It is a good budget with some modification as we go through the…”

“I do believe that we have a balanced budget before us. It is a good budget with some modification as we go through the amendments today. I first want to bring to the Members' attention the earned income tax credit which in this bill allows $100 million for 45,000 people to be looked at to see if they are in compliance in order to receive the EITC. We believe, and we will be offering an amendment later today to reduce that to 25,000 people and to use 50 million of those tax dollars to look at corporations and other high-wagers to see if they are in compliance. The earned income tax credit assists moderate and low-income families. It provides for them revenues and monies they need for college educations and other things that this budget does not apply. So we hope that that $50 million will be adequate for the pilot program, and we will hear more on that as we go on throughout the day. Another is the Buy American provision that I have offered in this bill. In my home State of Michigan over 400,000 people are out of work. Many of the manufacturing jobs have gone offshore. I am told now that many of the service jobs are going offshore and we have to do something about that. This budget can do that and it can do better.”