February 12, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 29 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 29
(House of Representatives - February 12, 2020)
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[Pages H1114-H1117] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Craig). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2019, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Porter) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. Ms. PORTER. Madam Speaker, when Donald Trump was running for President, he promised that he would balance the budget, eliminate the national debt, and protect programs that support American families. He continues to promise to balance the budget, but his latest math is based on fantasy. The President's budget cuts the programs that Americans rely on and those that Americans have invested in in order to fund more tax cuts for the wealthy, a bigger defense budget, and an ineffective border wall. If it isn't clear yet, the President failed to be truthful. He is putting special interests above the health and safety of hardworking American families. Our national debt is bigger than ever, and taxpayer dollars have been wasted paying for tax cuts that benefit the rich and powerful. Here is the stone-cold truth: President Trump is reneging on his promise to protect older Americans and those with disabilities. His proposed budget cuts billions from Social Security and Medicare. These drastic cuts and his failure to keep his word will devastate millions of Americans. Social Security has lifted millions of older Americans out of poverty, but the President doesn't think it is necessary to continue supporting our most vulnerable older Americans. The President would also slash the budget for the Administration for Community Living. Americans need this agency to support those who are aging and those who have disabilities, as well as their caregivers, so that they can age in place and live their best life every day of their lives. I have heard countless times from Orange County residents that they want the choice to grow older in their homes in our beautiful community that they have spent much of their lives in. The President's budget takes these choices away. Right now, our country is struggling to keep up with our global competitors. And apparently right now the President thinks this is a good time to gut funding for medical research and innovation. The President wants to cut investments in medical research at the National Institutes of Health that provide the pipeline for new cures and that spur innovation. The President wants to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. These agencies ensure that there are qualified health professionals who can move new medical discoveries into healthcare and public-health delivery, support Americans while they are awaiting new [[Page H1115]] cures, and prevent them from getting sick in the first place. The President also wants to cut funding for the Food and Drug Administration and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Americans need the Food and Drug Administration to approve new, safe, and effective treatments and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to provide evidence on what treatments work best, for whom, and in what circumstances. If you follow the President's budget proposals over his years in office, Madam Speaker, you know that this is a pattern that just keeps repeating, because the President doesn't care about securing healthcare for older Americans, for children, or for everyday Americans, he doesn't care about ensuring that older Americans have a secure and comfortable retirement. He doesn't care that millions of Americans depend on these programs to survive. The cuts as proposed are untenable for America's health and are a radical change from how we funded these programs in decades past. It is my responsibility as a Representative to provide Federal funding in 2021 that aligns with our core values as a nation and that supports the American people, and I promise to put Orange County families first. Unlike the President, I will never break this longstanding promise to my constituents. The President's budget shows willful ignorance of the climate crisis that is threatening our country's natural resources, our communities' health, and our global prosperity. He proposes cuts to environmental protection programs that would only further exacerbate the worst effects of the climate change. Countries around the world are experiencing their warmest winters in history. Antarctica saw temperatures of 65 degrees for the first time in history. We have watched Australia and the rain forests burn. We have watched our home State of California burn. We have seen communities devastated by hurricanes and other adverse weather caused by climate change. The President's proposed budget would slash the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency by 26 percent and cut in half funding for energy research and development. This would gut critical programs like the Land & Water Conservation Fund and tax credits for electric vehicles by millions of dollars each. People are dying, entire species are on the verge of extinction, and communities have been destroyed; but the President wants to devastate bipartisan programs established to protect our natural resources, our communities, and our planet. Who is this budget for? Who are these proposals for? The oil industry, special interests, and the few in this world who gain more from harming our planet than from supporting it. This budget is not for Californians, and it is not for Orange County families. As a mother of three, I fear for the world my children will grow up in, and I cannot stand by and let this President destroy programs that would protect it. On the topic of our children's future, I am disgusted by the President's decision to cut funding for public education while providing yet another tax break for the wealthy and largest corporations. The President's proposal is an outright attack on our public schools which are a real point of pride in the 45th Congressional District. To make matters worse, the budget would make higher education less affordable and less accessible than it already is for too many students. The budget makes a $170 billion cut to student loan programs over the next 10 years. What does this mean for our college students? Increased costs for new students because subsidized student loans would be eliminated, difficulty getting jobs on campus because of cuts to funding for Federal workstudy, and difficulty repaying loans because of the elimination of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. This program is based on a simple premise that dedicating yourself to making this country better by responding to emergencies, by educating our students, and by providing care for the sick is an honorable and deeply needed service. These are just some of the many professions performed by those who pursue a career in the public sector. By eliminating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, the President breaks our promise to our first responders, our teachers, and our nurses. These borrowers have tirelessly committed themselves to improving our communities, and we must keep our commitment to them. Despite being in the middle of a historic affordable housing crisis which we feel acutely in Orange County, President Trump wants to make dramatic cuts to the housing and community development programs that serve those in need. The proposal slashes funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 15 percent. That is $8.6 billion. That money is coming out of essential housing assistance programs that lift up our communities. In a State like California where the affordable housing crisis hits especially hard, these cuts will hurt thousands of families who rely on them to make ends meet. In California, a minimum wage worker would have to work 116 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment or have the good fortune to find a job that pays $35 an hour. But in my district of Orange County, make that $39 per hour, or $80,000 per year. The median cost for a single- family home in Orange County is over $800,000. Do we want to live in a country where only millionaires can afford shelter? Until we address the severe lack of affordable housing in America, we will need programs like community block grants and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program to help families. Those funds support affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families, and the President's budget completely eliminates them. His proposal would, quite literally, leave families out in the cold. Taking a chunk out of HUD's budget when home and rental prices are hitting new highs across the country is irresponsible and, frankly, cruel. President Trump says he is for our business owners, but he clearly means mega corporations--Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Wall Street banks-- because his budget eliminates funding for the Economic Development Administration's grant program, and it cuts the Small Business Administration by 11 percent. This budget would harm U.S. innovation and growth and hurt small business owners who are the backbone of our economy. President Trump also wants to cut our foreign aid budget by over 20 percent. That money is about keeping Americans safe and keeping us out of never-ending wars. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, raised similar concerns earlier this week: ``The more we cut the international affairs budget, the higher the risk for longer and deadlier military operations.'' The President's budget puts Americans and our military at risk, rather than funding foreign aid that keeps us safe and secure. We have a responsibility as elected officials to be good stewards of working Americans' hard-earned dollars, and that means funding programs to get families the help that they need, programs that invest in our children, and priorities that keep us safe. Giveaways to special interests and wasted dollars on proposals not grounded in evidence are slaps in the face of our hardworking taxpayers. If this budget is a reflection of the President's values and of his goals and vision for our country, then I am afraid of what policies may come out of this White House next. I constantly seek opportunities to work with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and I look for chances to work with this President as well. But I cannot and I will not support gutting the programs that serve our families and our communities. It is Congress' responsibility to make sure that we spend taxpayer dollars wisely on programs that support economic growth rather than things that line the pockets of special interests and hurt our future. Congress was given the power of the purse as part of a system of checks and balances on the President's power, and it is our responsibility on both sides of the aisle to fight for a real budget grounded in our values and a budget that works for the families and the American people that we represent. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib). [[Page H1116]] {time} 1730 Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Porter), my incredible colleague who co-chairs the Special Order within the Congressional Progressive Caucus. I do appreciate her continued leadership in fighting for families all across the country. One of the things that we need to realize is this is a destructive and irrational budget by the current administration, and we want to wonder why. This is a reflection--very much so--of the values within this administration. It is also showing that we are going to leave working- class folks and anyone who needs access to food, healthcare, housing, clean air, and relief from flooding behind. And we wonder: Why did this come about? Well, like folks in my district would say: Let's go back and figure out who is part of the administration. Right now, under the current Trump administration, a coal lobbyist runs the EPA; a pharmaceutical executive runs Health and Human Services; an oil lobbyist runs the Department of the Interior; another lobbyist runs DOD, the Department of Defense; a Verizon lawyer runs the Federal Communications Commission; a Goldman Sachs executive runs Treasury; a private equity kingpin runs Commerce; a billionaire Amway heiress runs the Department of Education. So what you have here is a reflection of those values, those folks who are completely disconnected from the American people. These folks are millionaires--some may be even billionaires--who do not understand the day-to-day challenges that our folks are facing. Madam Speaker, I represent the third poorest congressional district in the 13 District Strong, where we have, in some areas, chronic poverty, but also lack of access to food. We also face that we are frontline communities of what doing nothing looks like on climate change. We also house the worst ZIP Code in the State of Michigan-- 48217. Madam Speaker, look at the budget itself. Just gloss over it. You are talking about $1.4 trillion in tax giveaways--$1.7 billion in cuts just in the Army Corps of Engineers, where two of my communities right now are literally facing flooding of homes that they need the Army Corps of Engineers to be able to address, from communities in Dearborn Heights and all along the east side of Detroit. Madam Speaker, we have $920 billion in Medicaid cuts, healthcare to our most vulnerable, many of them, again, family members and those who have to take care of our children. Madam Speaker, a 26 percent cut to the EPA. We, right now, in the city of Detroit and throughout Wayne County, we don't even meet sulfur dioxide standards, right now, under the Clean Air Act. We suffer every single day. In one of my ZIP Codes, we have three times higher asthma hospitalization among adults. We need to push back on these cuts that, again, reflect on who is running this administration versus a reflection of the American people and their needs. It directly eliminates affordable housing programs within HUD. Not only is the food assistance being cut, the $181 billion in food assistance, they are going and proceeding on to create a culture that says that working folks, working-class residents, our most vulnerable, seniors, the vulnerable communities--like our mothers and others who are taking care of their families--have to be left behind while we give cuts to the wealthy and to corporations. And so it is really critically important the American people wake up and understand who is running our government right now, because, right now, our government is not about people. This budget is a reflection of those values that are going to be people versus profit, and this budget is very clear: Our people are not coming first. And, from a community, again, that is a frontline community that always gets left behind--if it is not around education funding, environmental funding to housing funding to food assistance, we are, again, the frontline communities of what doing nothing looks like. Madam Speaker, this budget is wrong for our country. It is destructive, and it is something that we need to be able to push back together on in a bipartisan way. I thank my colleague, again, for this opportunity to express and be a voice for many of my residents back home in 13 District Strong. Ms. PORTER. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa). Mr. COSTA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for the good work that she does on behalf of her constituents, and I appreciate the opportunity to make comments that are important investments that we should be making in our infrastructure for all Americans. The President, when he ran for office, talked about his willingness to invest in America's infrastructure. Sadly, we have seen little follow-through on behalf of the administration to do just that. America was built over decades and generations on Americans willing to invest in our infrastructure. Clearly, today, we are living off the investments our parents and grandparents made a generation or two ago. In California, but throughout the country, that includes fixing our aging water systems, our transportation systems, and investing in our school sites. In my home in the San Joaquin Valley, the development of water over the last 100 years has allowed deserts to bloom. A reliable water supply is a foundation for any economy. Farmers need water to feed the world. We say, ``where water flows, food grows,'' and life becomes increasingly difficult when we have literally hundreds and thousands of Californians and elsewhere around the country in which communities that are small, that are not incorporated, cannot meet or comply with clean drinking water standards either by the State or by the Federal Government. That is just wrong. The richest country in the world, and yet we have communities that don't meet clean drinking water standards? We know that many of these water systems were built decades ago. California now has doubled its population. We need to invest. Madam Speaker, this last week, I introduced legislation for critical water infrastructure in parts of my district, the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, the Delta-Mendota Canal that has lost 15 to 20 percent of its capacity. The California Aqueduct that not only brings water from the north to the San Joaquin Valley but to Los Angeles as a critical supply of those water needs for Los Angelenos, these canals supply water to tens of millions of people, and also to the Santa Clara Valley Water, the home of what? Silicon Valley. The legislation that I introduced, the Conveyance Capacity Correction Act, will provide $400 million to fund these needed repairs. This is just one piece of legislation to address the many tools in our water toolbox in California's aging water system, but we need to invest now in our water infrastructure. We also need to invest now in our transportation system. The roads that were built in California and the highways, the inner city and transit systems and our air transportation have really, post-World War II, been the reason why California has become the Golden State. And we, again, are living off those investments our parents made. We need to make the same kinds of investments. When the President talks about $1 trillion of investment across America, that is wonderful, and our Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has sought where those needs should be felt. But to do that, you have to put up real money to match local, State dollars with Federal money. We haven't really provided any new Federal sources of funding since the 1990s; and it is absolutely essential if we are going to have this sort of 21st century system of transportation that is intermodal, that is interconnected, that will be provided for people for work, for pleasure, and for a host of purposes to get from point A to point B, to ensure that they can do it safely, in a way that makes the quality of life absolutely better. So those are the challenges we face. We are working to put an infrastructure package together that will fund our roads and highways, our transit systems, our inner-city rail systems that include high- speed rail. We are building high-speed rail in California, and I have introduced legislation that will provide money for fast [[Page H1117]] trains throughout the country, as well as in California. We are under construction now. But that is one part of an overall connected system that makes sure that our air transportation, that our inner-city transportation and our roads and highways are connected as we see in Europe and in other parts of the world. That is the challenge. Madam Speaker, I think, if we can come together in a bipartisan fashion as we have done traditionally, we can overcome these challenges and invest in ways that do what? Provide good-paying jobs; because when you invest in the infrastructure--whether it is our water, our transportation, our schools--we are investing in Americans, and those create the good-paying jobs that raise all boats for working people. And, really, that is what we are talking about here when we talk about investing: investing for working people, for all Americans. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Orange County for all of her good work. Freedom of Religion Ms. PORTER. Madam Speaker, the administration's Muslim ban has ripped families apart. Orange County families have endured this Muslim ban for 3 long years; yet, the President has doubled down, making it so much worse. Make no mistake, this policy is based on hate. It is based upon dividing us with fear. President Trump showed hostility to Muslims during his campaign. He called for a ``total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.'' Just 7 days into office, the President signed the first version of the Muslim ban. This was never about national security. It was about anti-Muslim hate and discrimination. The families in my community, as well as families across the United States, are suffering. Families in my district are being torn apart by the ban. It is separating husbands from wives, mothers from children, and adults from their dying parents. Let me be clear: No individual or family should be discriminated against based on their religious beliefs. It is why I backed the Freedom of Religion Act, which would prohibit religious discrimination in our immigration system and protect Americans of all faiths--not just Muslim Americans. I am proud that so many Americans have stood together to protest the administration's Muslim ban, to push back and to vote in Representatives like me who will fight discrimination. Today, because the American people made their voices heard, the House of Representatives began the process to repeal this shameful ban. I am proud to be a backer of that legislation, the NO BAN Act, and I will always support and celebrate the vibrant Muslim community in Orange County. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________
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