Conference Report on S. Con. Res. 11, Concurrent Resolution on the Budget, Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Price for his extraordinary leadership throughout this entire process. And I want to thank my fellow conferees for their hard work, many hours over many days, to get us to where we are today and, of course, my fellow Budget Committee members, both Republican and Democrat, for the robust discussion, debate, spirit, as it was sometimes. The process worked. We did go late into the night a few times. But we came out of those late nights, those long hours, with the product here today.

The product here today, unfortunately, is a more rare product than it should be. Mr. Speaker, for the first time since 2001, 14 years, we have a balanced joint budget resolution, bicameral.

As a relatively new person to this Chamber, in my fifth year, and you think about why that is the case, you, unfortunately, in my opinion, have to conclude it is because most of the time we are talking about the demagoguery, like some of which we just heard, half the story, so to speak, about what is really going on here. If we had full discussions about where this country really needs to go, where this Federal Government needs to go in terms of improving its debt and deficit picture, the whole budget picture, you would really see that the economy in this country could be better off with those honest, full discussions.

This budget, for example, does balance in less than 10 years without raising taxes--without raising taxes. The gentleman very much knows that the Budget Committee doesn't write tax prescriptions; it is the Ways and Means Committee. We say in our budget document that the Ways and Means Committee should get on with the business of tax reform.

What the Congressional Budget Office that the gentleman mentioned says is that over the 10-year window of this budget agreement, the economy will grow $400 billion. That is hardly a contraction. $400 billion, at least to some of us, is a lot of money, and that is great for economic growth. This budget agreement does that.

Do you see what I mean, Mr. Speaker, by ``the whole story''?

It also ensures a strong national defense, making sure that our troops have the money they need, but remain accountable to the money that is given. It gives us a chance to repeal in full, taxes and all, ObamaCare, and allows us a chance to start over with patient-centered health reform. It hasn't been done. We haven't had that chance in a long time. ObamaCare, Mr. Speaker, is an expensive proposition, and we are seeing more and more proof of that every day.

It strengthens Medicare in the future without affecting those in or near retirement now. This is important. Some of us, for my friends on the conservative side, have looked at the press reports and found, hey, we have given up on Medicare. Absolutely not; nor for Social Security.

These are the drivers of our debt, Mr. Speaker, and our budget language remains intact. The fact of the matter is this conference committee report is numerically driven, not policy driven.

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Mr. ROKITA. And for everyone, this is what is driving our debt. These pieces of the pie. They are all attached together, whether it is Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, or the interest we owe ourselves and others for the amount of money we are borrowing.

Our ideas for correcting this debt, the drivers of our debt, are still in place. I call upon the authorizing committees, whether it be Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Education and the Workforce, or any other committee, to start working on reforming this debt.

This budget agreement, Mr. Speaker, gives us the opportunity, finally, after 14 years, to start down that road. This is not a conclusion; this is a beginning, and I ask my Democratic friends to join us down that road.

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