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Appointment of Conferees on S. 1932, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005

Date: Dec. 16, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Defense Government Budget and Spending


APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON S. 1932, DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - December 16, 2005)

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, $24 billion will not go to the children of this country, but 53 percent of the tax cuts that this party put together in the last several weeks will go to people who make over $1 million a year. So $24 billion denied to kids in this country to satisfy the wealthiest 1 percent of the wage earners in this Nation. It lays out very clearly the values and the priorities of the majority party here.

Let me just say to you tonight that this Nation has been through a lot in the last several months: the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and a precarious situation in Iraq. This is not the moment for the drastic cuts the Republican budget calls for. This ought to be a moment of clarity where we realize what priorities are and what is important to us as a Nation.

This budget reconciliation, the cuts here, cut access to health care for low-income children and families; college loan assistance, leaving the typical student borrower to pay $5,800 more for college; throws a quarter of a million low-income families off food stamps, working families trying their best to provide this winter.

Those families who make over a million dollars who are going to get the tax cut, they do not need food stamps. They probably have medical bills because they have gout because they are overeating. They are not on food stamps. The American people have had enough.

With this motion, Democrats are calling to reject the most extreme cuts proposed by the majority that impact our most vulnerable citizens, whether it is stripping protections which guarantee more than 5 million children receive the medical services they need, mental health services they need, optical care, hearing aids, cuts to child support we have been talking about, 40 percent.

It eliminates federally funded foster care benefits for grandparents and relatives of abused and neglected children. This bill goes out of its way to make the lives of Americans already living on the margin even more difficult. It is the wrong direction. Vote for the Spratt motion to instruct.

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