| 00:00:00 | REPUBLICAN BUDGET IS BOLD AND COURAGEOUS. |
| 00:00:03 | BUT JUST LIKE LAST YEAR, REPUBLICAN BUDGET, THIS BUDGET PROPOSES NEITHER BOLD NOR IS IT COURAGEOUS. |
| 00:00:10 | IT'S NOT BOLD TO BACK YOUR BUDGET ON LOW INCOME FAMILIES AND CHILDREN OF THIS NATION. |
| 00:00:16 | THIS BUDGET IN FACT, THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET, MORTGAGES AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF CHILDREN'S EDUCATION AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S EDUCATION. |
| 00:00:24 | IT MORTGAGES THEIR ETCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY BY MAKING CUTS AT THE VERY EARLIER OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION, AT THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL OF EDUCATION, THE SECONDARY LEVEL OF EDUCATION AND IT'S GOING TO ALLOW THE DOUBLING OF INTEREST RATES ON STUDENT LOANS THAT FAMILIES HAVE TAKEN OUT TO PROVIDE FOR THE HIGHER EDUCATION THAT THESE YOUNG PEOPLE NEED TO GET JOBS IN THIS ECONOMY, TO GET THE SKILLS THAT THEY NEED TO BE ABLE TO GO TO WORK IN THIS ECONOMY AND YET THAT'S GOING TO BE SLASHED WITH THEIR CUTS, WITH THEIR INCREASED COSTS TO THOSE INDIVIDUALS. |
| 00:00:54 | IT ALSO SACRIFICES THE HEALTH CARE BENEFITS OF A GENERATION OF THESE SAME PEOPLE BECAUSE UNDER THEIR PROPOSAL, THEY ENVISION THE AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT SOMEHOW GOING AWAY. |
| 00:01:06 | THAT THEY CAN REPEAL IT, THEY CAN GET RID OF IT. |
| 00:01:09 | AND THAT MEANS THAT YOUNG PEOPLE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STAY ON THEIR FAMILY'S POLICY AS THEY FINISH THEIR EDUCATION OR SEEK OUT THEIR FIRST JOB, THEIR FIRST BEGINNING OF A CAREER. |
| 00:01:19 | AND IT ALSO ENDS THE MEDICARE GUARANTEE. |
| 00:01:22 | IT FOLLOWS THE PATH THAT GEORGE BUSH FOLLOWED WHEN HE WANTED TO PRIVATIZE IT AND THEN IN LAST YEAR'S BUDGET WHEN THEY SOUGHT TO END THE GUARANTEE, THEY'RE BACK AGAIN TO END THAT GUARANTEE TO OUR SENIOR CITIZENS. |
| 00:01:34 | IT'S NOT BOLD, IT'S JUST PLAIN WRONG. |
| 00:01:37 | THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT IN FACT STRENGTHENS MEDICARE, IT MADE IT MORE SUSTAINABLE FOR SENIORS AND SUSTAINABLE FOR THE TAXPAYERS. |
| 00:01:44 | IT EXTENDED THE MEDICARE TRUST FUND. |
| 00:01:46 | BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET'S ABOUT. |
| 00:01:48 | IT'S ABOUT EXTENDING DEFICITS OUT TO SOME TIME IN 2014 BUT AT THE SAME TIME NOT LOOKING AT THE IMPACT OF MILITARY SPENDING OR CONTINUATION OF THE WAR AS THEY EXPECT IN THEIR BUDGET IN AFGHANISTAN AND IT SAYS, THEREFORE, WE WILL SHIFT THE ENTIRE CUTS TO THE YOUNG, TO THE OLD, TO MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES AND THAT CANNOT BE ALLOWED. |
| 00:02:14 | THIS -- THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET MUST BE REJECTED BY THIS HOUSE. |
| 00:02:20 | . THE CHAIR: THE GENTLEMAN FROM WISCONSIN IS |
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
And just like last year, some Members of Congress and beltway talking heads are declaring the Republican budget proposal as bold and courageous. But just like last year's Republican budget, this budget proposal is neither bold nor is it courageous.
It's not bold to balance your budget on the backs of working families, low-income families, and the children of this Nation. This Republican budget, in fact, mortgages an entire generation of children's education and young people's education. It mortgages their educational opportunities by making cuts at the very earliest of early childhood education, at the elementary level of education, the secondary level of education; and it's going to allow the doubling of interest rates on student loans that families have taken out to provide for the higher education that these young people need to get jobs in this economy, to get the skills that they need to be able to go to work in this economy. Yet that is going to be slashed with their cuts, with their increased costs to those individuals.
It also sacrifices the health care benefits of a generation, of these same people, because under their proposal they envision the Affordable Care Act somehow going away, that they can repeal it, they can get rid of it. And that means that young people will not be able to stay on their families' policies as they finish their education or they seek out their first job, their first beginning of a career.
It also ends the Medicare guarantee. It follows the path that George Bush followed when he wanted to privatize it and then again in last year's budget, when they sought to end the guarantee. They're back again to end that guarantee to our senior citizens. It's not bold. It's just plain wrong.
The Affordable Care Act, in fact, strengthened Medicare. It made it more sustainable for seniors and sustainable for the taxpayers. It extended the Medicare trust fund.
But that's not what the Republican budget's about. It's about extending the deficits out until sometime in 2014, while at the same time not looking at the impact of military spending or continuing the war in Afghanistan, as they accept it in their budget.
And what it says is, therefore, we will shift the entire cuts to the young, to the old, to middle class families. But that cannot be allowed. The Republican budget must be rejected by this House.