Charles Skelton: “for several years now, the budgets brought before this Congress have not adequately represented the interests of the…”

“for several years now, the budgets brought before this Congress have not adequately represented the interests of the American people. Rather than approach budgeting in a bipartisan fashion, Republicans have consistently chosen to gild the lily, electing to enact large tax cuts while simultaneously failing to reign in government spending. These actions by today's leaders have passed a tremendous financial burden on to future generations of Americans. The Republicans' Fiscal Year 2007 budget is no better. It makes the deficit worse, offers no plan to bring the budget back to balance, and adds to the growing weight of the national debt. The budget also makes harmful cuts to critical services for working families--including education, veterans' services, and health care. In contrast, the Democratic budget plan proposed by Mr. Spratt of South Carolina would reach balance in 2012, has smaller deficits, accumulates less debt, and repeals the House rule providing for automatic debt ceiling increases. It also would reject the Republican budget's cuts to domestic priorities and reinstate pay-as-you-go rules that helped spur the budget surpluses of the 1990s.…”