John Spratt: “we have come up with a budget which takes these difficult facts and, number one, tries to set a target date for bringing…”

“we have come up with a budget which takes these difficult facts and, number one, tries to set a target date for bringing the budget to balance. We do that in 2012. Secondly, we have tried to bring the deficit in at lower and lower rates each year, and lower than our opposition, the Republican budget on the floor. We have succeeded in doing that. We adopt the full PAYGO bill. As a consequence of what we propose in our budget resolution, we bring the budget to balance in 2012. At the same time, within this fiscal framework, we provide for middle-income tax relief, we provide more for education, more for veterans' health care, more for science under the NSF function of the budget, for example, more for the National Institutes of Health, more for health care. Usually we are bringing spending back up to baseline. It is not a great deal more, but it is more in almost every respect, proving we can deal with the deficit without pulling up the drawbridge. We can be compassionate conservatives, conservative in the sense that we bring the budget to balance, compassionate in the sense that we deal with the needs of the American people and our country and do not turn our backs on them. This is a good resolution we are offering as a substitute. It is fiscally and morally responsible, and I urge that every Member vote for it.”