Eliot Engel: “I rise in absolute astonishment at the disingenuous budget resolution presented by the Republican majority and in…”

“I rise in absolute astonishment at the disingenuous budget resolution presented by the Republican majority and in opposition to the Republican Study Committee's alternative. But at least the Republican Study Committee, I give them credit, they try to be consistent. They try to bring down the deficit. They try to say that we cannot have these tremendous deficits. I do not know whether to laugh or cry, to actually carve out protections that allow increases in the deficit by billions. What has happened to the soul of the Republican Party? Is fiscal responsibility no longer their mantra? Make no mistake, guaranteeing that we can have tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts means even bigger increases in the deficit. The tax cuts for the rich are robbing us of our ability to fund needed programs. How can we look at our children and grandchildren and say we are promoting the general welfare? $7 trillion in debt, every American now carries a burden of $24,326. Just this year alone we are spending $340 billion on interest for this debt. We are leaving our children and grandchildren an economic time bomb. Just as the baby boom generation begins to retire, this budget spends every penny of the Medicare and Social Security surpluses over the next 10 years, but not on Medicare and Social Security; and the cuts on Medicaid are shameful in this budget when we consider that unemployment is high and people need Medicaid.”