Sheila Jackson Lee: “What we must be careful of is that we do not increase any mandatory minimums and some of the penalties that are in…”

“What we must be careful of is that we do not increase any mandatory minimums and some of the penalties that are in place, and we must be careful that we do protect Social Security and Medicare. We will continue to monitor this for a budget that will lift the debt ceiling until 2017 and have this country stand on its feet and pay its bills. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlelady for yielding and I rise to speak on the rule and the underlying legislation, which is the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1314, the ``Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2015.'' The bill before us is not perfect--far from it--but it is a modest and positive step toward preventing Republicans from shutting down the government again and manufacturing crises that only harm our economy, destroy jobs, and weaken our middle class. I have reviewed the agreement carefully and have concluded that on balance the good outweighs the bad for the following reasons: 1. The agreement provides $80 billion of significant sequester relief over the next two years for both defense and non-defense priorities, which is nearly 90 percent of the relief requested by the President in his 2016 budget; 2. The Bipartisan Budget Agreement prevents a roughly 50 percent increase in the Medicare Part B premium in 2016, protecting thousands of seniors in my congressional district, and millions more across the country, from cost increases; 3.…”