Bill Pascrell: “``The Cut, Cap, and Balance Act'' shows yet again how out of step the Majority is with the needs and concerns of…”

“``The Cut, Cap, and Balance Act'' shows yet again how out of step the Majority is with the needs and concerns of ordinary Americans. With over 9 percent unemployment, Congress should focus on growing the economy, lowering unemployment and reducing our deficit. We can achieve this economic growth through a fiscal policy that invests in our future, creates broad based economic growth and shares the burden of debt reduction. Instead, we are debating an ideologically extreme policy that makes the Majority's budget's treatment of seniors, the middle class and our children look balanced. This bill caps spending at 18 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a level not seen since 1966, when seniors made up 9 percent of the population, not the 13 percent they make up today. In 1966, the average cost of medical care was $1,500 a year, not the $8,200 that it is today, and almost no Americans were enrolled in Medicare, whereas over 46 million seniors are enrolled today. Even more disturbing, the bill holds an increase in the debt ceiling hostage to the passage of a so-called ``Balanced Budget Amendment.'' This Balanced Budget Amendment is more radical than those that have been considered by Congress in the past. Unbelievably, it would require a supermajority in both houses of Congress to raise revenues.…”