Bill Pascrell: “I thank the ranking member and the chairman and, of course, my good friend from Texas (Mr. Marchant). I yield myself…”

“I thank the ranking member and the chairman and, of course, my good friend from Texas (Mr. Marchant). I yield myself such time as I may consume. This week, the President sent his fiscal year 2017 budget to Congress and released it to the American people. His budget included numerous proposals to reduce the deficit by $2.9 trillion and grow our economy. In fact, under President Obama's leadership, we have seen deficits shrink to stark lows, the smallest it has been in 7 years. However, the chairman of the House Budget Committee has refused to hold a hearing on the President's budget with the Office of Management and Budget. This is the first time in 40 years that the President's budget will not be granted a hearing. We separate the powers, but we never separate respect. Ignoring the fact that the President just sent deficit reduction proposals to Congress, rebuffing the OMB Director's request to testify, the House has instead gone to consider legislation that requires the administration to submit deficit reduction proposals and come and testify about the debt limit and the deficit. Something doesn't quite add up here. I have tremendous respect for the sponsor of this bill. I think he is acting in good faith--I think it is logical, but I don't think it is true; not everything logical is true, you know--the author of the bill and my colleague on the Ways and Means Committee. But I believe this legislation misses the forest for the trees.…”