On the recordMarch 2, 2017
As we begin the process that comes as a responsibility of this House, and that is, overseeing the President's budget and designing a budget to serve the American people, I am raising the question of the baffling budget that seems to be emerging from the White House. The plus-up and elimination of sequester on the defense spending may be worth considering. I, frankly, believe we should remove the sequester on discretionary spending. But what is being proposed is that the plus-up of $54 billion will be taken out of the needs, the hearts, and minds of the American people. The EPA will be gutted, so there will be no staff to oversee clean water and clean air, of which so many counties and cities, like Flint and my own community of Harris County, are in desperate need of. What will happen to housing for senior citizens and young families? Gutted because the Department of Housing and Urban Development will see a drastic cut. Or Health and Human Services that helps to sponsor federally qualified health clinics and the complete elimination of the Affordable Care Act, which will bust the budget. Medicaid, civil rights, and the prevention of hate crimes; the Justice Department gutted and, as well, as Attorney General Sessions has already done, not preventing voter fraud or voter discrimination. Mr. Speaker, we need a budget that serves the American people. That is the kind of budget that I will be looking to support. ____________________
