Charles Rangel: “we call this the Congressional Black Caucus budget, but the only thing that we have in common is that our constituents…”

“we call this the Congressional Black Caucus budget, but the only thing that we have in common is that our constituents have the same dreams, the same aspirations and the same hopes to participate in this ever-growing economy that we have today. As we take a look at those of us that support it, the President's budget, which had a tax increase in it before, we see that without any Republican support it passed, and we found economic growth except for one group of people, and that is those people that did not have the tools to access, or the education, the jobs or the training to participate in this growth. Now that we are moving forward into the next century where trade and technology is going to lead, what we have tried to do in our budget is not to stress how much money we need for drug rehabilitation and how much we need for cops and jails, but to concentrate on how we can make the best investment, not just by reducing taxes, but by investing in people, giving our kids a chance to get an education similar to the GI bill so that they can participate, be productive, and have a society where we do not have to have welfare programs, but just decide what jobs are best for certain people that are trained for them. We want to make certain that the budget is balanced, not as just economists, because we cannot afford to have the interest on the debt really be further than just the interest that we have in our students.”