Rep. Spratt is chairman of the House Budget Committee.

The House Democratic budget is a balanced budget with balanced priorities. Our resolution takes us from a deficit of nearly $400 billion this year to a surplus in 2012, and at the same time, funds critical priorities.

We restore the harmful cuts in the President’s budget, including cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, environmental protection, LIHEAP, and COPS.  And we add $4.9 billion over Fiscal Year 2008 for veterans’ health care; accommodate $50 billion over five years for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP); and provide substantial resources over the President’s budget for education, and energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. These are all good programs that work for millions of Americans, and programs Democrats believe in. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday’s budget is an insult to the hard-working individuals and families in America.  During difficult economic times when Americans are tightening their belts to pay their bills, the majority party wants to pin new taxes on their already cash-strapped backs.  It’s outrageous to ask Americans to work harder to pay for more unnecessary Washington spending.  In Texas’ 26th District alone, the Democrats’ fiscally irresponsible budget would raise taxes, on average, by more than $3,000 per taxpayer.

I am also greatly concerned with the massive $283 billion spending increase called for in the Democrats’ budget.  Spending ourselves silly is not what people sent us here to do.  Americans expect more and they deserve better than short-term spending that disregards long-term concerns.  And we can’t ignore the blatant disregard of the coming crisis in our entitlement programs.  We clearly need major reform of the out of control and unsustainable entitlement spending.  Our country continues to benefit from hard working Texas taxpayers.  Unfortunately, these same people are shouldering a disproportionate share of entitlement spending while receiving less than our share of any benefits. This needs to change.

This past week, the United States Senate approved the Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2009 that includes vital funding to sustain and enhance the health and economic well-being of working Maine families and America’s most vulnerable. The budget plan we passed will go a long way to helping the people who require it the most. At a time when job losses are increasing, job growth is slowing and energy prices are skyrocketing, we passed a budget that offers more support to our nation’s small businesses and provides more LIHEAP assistance for low-income families.

As our nation begins to adjust to the challenges created by a slowing economy, this budget was an opportunity for us to invest in the things that can inject new life into our economy. As Ranking Member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I have been a forceful advocate for additional SBA funding. The economic engine that drives our economy is small businesses. SBA’s core programs and services help small enterprises grow, expand, and, most critically, create jobs. Read the rest of this entry »

In this time of economic uncertainty, this fiscally responsible budget points our economy in the right direction once again by cutting taxes for the middle class and creating good-paying jobs here in America.  We are also making health care, college tuition and energy more affordable and reversing years of Bush Republicans’ failed fiscal policies.  Since President Bush took office, it has been harder each day for middle-class families to make ends meet; this budget will help, and will give more working Americans a real opportunity to succeed in the future.

The budget passed last night is not in the best interests of the family budget. It raises taxes on middle-class families, seniors, and small businesses by thousands of dollars at a time when middle-class Americans are struggling with the realities of a slowing economy. Instead of financing a huge expansion of government, these dollars should stay with the people who earn them. American families are perfectly capable of making their own budgetary choices without Washington’s help.

And for the second year in a row, the Democrats’ budget refuses to address the very serious problem of unfunded entitlement obligations. The fact that this $66 trillion burden of debt is simply being passed along to future generations represents an appalling lack of leadership and fiscal responsibility. I will continue to work to find effective and bipartisan solutions to the entitlement issue, and hope that action will be taken sooner than later, for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

Reforms are needed so that U.S. business and American workers can benefit.  Importing an unlimited supply of foreign workers, as Bill Gates and the high tech industry suggest, doesn’t necessarily help U.S. businesses, American workers, or our country’s taxpayers.

It is an exciting time for America’s grain industry.  Growing feed, fiber and fuel, America’s producers are stepping up to challenges like no other time in history.  However, change is often coupled with hard decisions and this year’s Farm Bill is no exception.  The 2002 Farm Bill was good policy for the time but America’s producers are now taking greater risks to meet changing demands.  The 2007 Farm Bill must reflect more efficient spending and reformed protection for America’s producers.

Virginia’s corn producers and small grains growers are extremely concerned about the progress of the 2007 farm bill.  Already vulnerable with current programs, our producers have begun their 2008 growing season with no idea of support that may be available in the current farm bill.   Virginia has seen a 35 percent increase in small grain acres this year which will be harvested in less than three months.  In a matter of two to three weeks, Virginia’s producers will begin planting corn.  The uncertainty of prices and input costs are a considerable concern for all producers, including Virginia.  The grains industry is undergoing great change.  Usual practice even two years ago is no longer applicable in today’s grain markets.  Now more than ever, agriculture producers need a stable, common-sense policy reflected in the 2007 farm bill. Read the rest of this entry »

This week will be an important one in Congress for America’s middle class families facing rising costs for gasoline and energy, health care, and housing.  With the House expected to debate the Democrats’ budget, members will have to decide whether to vote for largest tax increase in American history, designed to finance bigger government and more pork-barrel spending, or support the Republican approach of new middle class tax cuts, fiscal responsibility, and meaningful entitlement reform.

Friday’s employment report for February underscored what American families want:  lower taxes and fiscal responsibility.  That’s exactly what Republicans are fighting for.  Unfortunately, the Democrats’ budget includes a tax increase for every American taxpayer by reinstating the marriage penalty, slashing the child tax credit by $500 per child, and increasing taxes by 50 percent for people in the 10 percent tax bracket.  Worse yet, this epic tax increase would be levied by Democratic leaders solely to bankroll billions upon billions in reckless and wasteful Washington spending that we neither need nor can afford.  That is an irresponsible approach, and House Republicans will work to defeat it next week.  (To read more about the Budget Committee debate on Wednesday, click here for the Republican Leader’s blog). Read the rest of this entry »

I believe in our free market system. It is because of my belief in that system that I am concerned about the extraordinary level of compensation provided to CEOs as documented in the March 7, 2008 and previous hearings by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

At a time when millions of homeowners are facing the loss of their homes, at a time when the number of children living in poverty is increasing, at a time when millions of Americans cannot afford basic health care, at a time when families uprooted by Hurricane Katrina remain displaced, without economic security, the unimaginable levels of compensation being received by the leaders of corporations that are losing billions of dollars can only be viewed as a massive failure of the market of historic proportions. Read the rest of this entry »

Friday’s report shows that the nation’s economic pain is worsening and more American families are falling behind. Our number one priority must be to help Americans who are out of work and wondering how they will provide for their families. It’s critical that we look at additional solutions to provide extended benefits for those who are having a hard time finding a new job.

The stimulus package passed last month was a good first step to provide an urgently-needed boost for the U.S. economy. However, this report also shows that there is much more work to be done to protect American jobs. Additional measures are needed to help Americans workers and their families, including investing on behalf of our nation’s most urgent needs.