60% of those and that spending on all of the little things that their defense department wants to take. it's really a thousand cut story. as we see this play out the plurality of reduction that will happen when we dentd goat the 39's request for defense, are going to come out of the same account. it will happen in a similar way budgetarily. right now, it's important to have a discussion, but i don't think there's going to be much action you believe till there's more fiscal certainty for the department. it's definitely in the conversation leading up to 2016. >> it's a great look at the political dynamics. i guess i would add that part of it is build around congress to

exercise that kind of intellectual leadership on technological questions that deal with future threat. >> i think it's part san that the pentagon is much larger. it has ever service dealing with new dock frin. i don't think congress is that inclined to challenge fundamentally the kind of weapon 178 that defense department proposes. i think you know, congress clearly does say we don't like certain things. but it's often at the margin. we don't want this, we do want that. it's too early to cut the a-10. i'm not sure we see too many cases. so there's certainly the possibility for events to dramatically change thinking.

it might act through the defense department and through the military to step up to the plate. >> i'm not a defense expert, but my experience in agencies across the government is congress is much more likely to cement adherence to the past and change things to the future. all of those members have districts. it's more common than forcing in business. >> other questions? >> yes, sir? >> yes, i have a question about foreign propaganda. isil has videos for example, they have videos where they're executing some s e asad regime members. as well as executing russian intelligence agents. i believe that's for the western media. it's not for those particular countries. so my question is, given

russia's case in syria, for example, once they took over the poll they became a superpower because russia, with ukraine, is a superpower. they can expand their navy with that. i think the shooting down of malaysia air could be an art kal 5 offense. i think that's the only time article 5 has come into effect. how do you maintain a balance and dispassionately plan your defense bunt when there's all of

this propaganda that's designed to provoke rage and passion that you have to put aside. >> a lot of that propaganda is targeting the rest. the decision to brutally execute an american journalist is an effective provocation. on the other hand i think there's a strong case that we were ignoring the threat and they sort of did us the favor in some ways of alerting the american public. in terms of balancing within regions, you know, sort of the

administration proposed a few years ago is part of the current strategy. the pivot to asia. it wanted to believe that europe was a place that was sort of spreading security to other reel jobs regions that we could afford to do. i think part of the challenge is that we should bt trade off one region more. whether it's the national defense panel or other groups considering this you have to have a fourth structure large enough with the technology to deal with threats in all of them. yes, it does mean the defense budget is going higher. not higher by historic levels but i believe 27% of the budget was for defense.

>> i'm lez concerned about having our balance distorted by propaganda, except for the chinese. the chinese kind of have the opposite propaganda. >> i appreciate your point about sort of emotional reactions and kind of congressional actions and congressional reactions. this town has become too good at just managing crises as opposed to solving probables i don't think we should expect much different. >> there will come a moment where we'll spend more. and i guess what i would say is not just this congress administration, there is such a

thing as defense regardless of the threat. that's just the own problem, one. but it's also a challenge, too. a couple of things. one is that there's a -- an increasing conventional wisdom in town. of course, what it's got is continuing to get smaller, older and less capable so that's not, actually. and as that happened, we're dialing down the strategy. so we're actually dialing down our objectives globally. which is its own challenge. but i don't see any threat that's going to cause some sort of windfall defense spending for the next two years. it's not coming. this is really about a discussion for beyond 2016. so when it's time to rebuild, it starts with agreed upon in washington. again, here, washington just doesn't have a good proven track

record. particularly if it's in response to crisis. if 9/11 happened again, knowing what we know now, i don't want a d.n.i. i don't want an entire security intelligence apparatus. there's so many things wrong with the dollars we just put into security. that i'd argue we're not prepared, ef even if there was a crisis, i' e'd turn it back on. >> next question to here from jordan? >> thank you, naval special operations headquarters. our partners now watch our budget in debate. they actively watch our congressional engagement. and they see the dysfunction that we portray. on the flip side, we have our leaders criticizing allies that they don't spend enough or don't spnd accurately. i guess my question would be what advice can you give

partners not only to spebd more, which, granted, i think they do need to spend more. but how do they spend better? i think that's the biggest questioner question. it's not just pouring more dollars into it. but what should those dollars go towards. >> sure, that's a fair point. it's a good one. i don't think the message was sinking in until now when there's -- our friends and partners would turp around and we're not there. so, really it's only a function of reality. we could talk until we're blue in the face. our smaller military really, truly can't do anything that has promised in the past. in some cases, probably overpromised. now, it's obviously a whole worrisome problem as an american for other reasons. but it is really, truly what it is.

we have declining capacity and capability and technological security. so it's rally not a function of naked self interest. i think we have to have those adult conversations. it's just like the panel has said. we need those aadulthood conversations in washington and america without entitle lt. so let's just all have the adult kvrgss and i think that's one of them. >> i'm probably willing to think i'll get half. no? all right. >> oh, question right here. >> good morning, everyone. i wanted to thank every member of this panel.

>> no matter the interest we had in increasing this budget, the will was not there within our congress. is that correct? >> oh, right now. yopg the will is there in general, in washington. as we've seen recent threats emerge, like the annexation of crimea, none of those have been -- no one has made the case in reaction to the world of writing. >> in districts, can we make any difference? or are we just having the confers so that we can educate people for the next administration? is there something you can do right now?

>> obviously, now we have democrats control the white house, republicans have majority. certainly not a filibuster proof in the senate. i think if you listen to a lot of armed services committee hearings, in either the house or the senate you hear from both parties denounce sequestration and its limits again and again. if the armed social securities committee were the house and senate, they would be absolutely fired up to do something about it. but they would still hit a roadblock. when democratic members speak, those on the armed services

committee can probably tolerate some degree of trade-off. that the security threat is so acute, some additional defense spending, nondefense spending, they will have it. but, yet, the party as a whole isn't in a place to be comfortable with that trade aif. that with sequestration, with all of its problems, fair number of people on the republican side, it's the exceptionally rare case where we actually brought down federal spending by about a 00 dlid e dread$00 dlid e dread billion clars e a year. we don't want to give it up. so only half of the increase can go to defense. even if there's a willing block on either side, the conditions of needing more spending or less spending don't want the go along with it. so ewe can imagine a greater tilt in either direction.

they controlled the white house, 60 in the senate and the white house. they pursued something which would be more defense at the expense of other accounts. or they could push through entitlement reforms in order to generate money for other concerns. but, without one side having a dominant hand, the condition each side imposes on more defense spending prevents them from doing that much, ef even though they all say this is a terrible situation. >> thank you. >> i'm a little more optimistic than these two. i really am. it's true. i'm getting 75 cents on the dollar. post 2016. >> you know,i think there is

more will than these folks believe. the president came in above the caps. >> absolutely yes, there will be people who hate that. but that's the nature of deals. deals are not clean victories. they are coalitions of disgruntled getting half of what they want. i think, again, the key is going to be what are the offsets? it's going to have to be offset. it should be offset. and the president has to give republicans air cover on the offsets. if he hangs them out to dry, then this is all right. nothing gets done. but if the president does what the president should do to get the right policy then there's a chance to get a little deal in 16 and it will look like ryan murray was, some discretionary for mandatory offsets. he'll do it again for the fy '17

budget. it will be tiny amounts of money and enormous amounts of pain and they'll decide to just stop this nonsense and do something bigger. >> it's incredibly true. >> i wouldn't say incredibly true. >> that is what you want matly happened. they want to make it an issue. if they're not hearing that this is a priority, their conversation is just human beings, right. they're going to deal with whatever is the next crisis at the front door.

they're not going to fix the leaking roof. we're talking about the long term sort of problems. it's the squeaky wheel metaphor, right? if they deent think that this is a priority it really won't get the attention it deserves or at least the long term attention. and i keep reading the headlines that in shock and a little bit of awe that speaker boehner and nancy pelossi have come to a permanent fix. every time that the bill comes due or something or other he could probably speak to what it is. i live in a defense world. they continue to pay for it so

that this cut to medicare never actually becomes reality. it's over $200 billion. there seems to be a will and a way, shockingly, when it comes to a big three entitlement program. they've shown they can be bipart san. they've shown they'll have the money. so if they don't know it's a priority, then it won't be a priority. >> they had to go through 17 times in ten years before they decided to fix that. there's a slow learning curve on 1078. >> a little bit of skepticism. i'm curious what you think about thornberry's reforms and their possibilities.

>> i was so busy preparing for this panel. he did mr. thornberry made a major speech. he previewed what he was going to do in acquisition. talked about the fact that it would be bite sized look. it would not be a sweeping mccain type of bill that we saw two congresses ago. which i think finally is a good thing. usually, when you add more people about the regulation and dollars, it's just a recipe for more reform problems in the future.

how can you ask for a single more dollar when so much is being wasted. how can you ask for more? so there have been occasional scandals where you learn about some fraud and abuse. but, waste, by far and away, is the biggest problem that people are targeting. i think the message that's important is we can't inform our way out of this budget pry even crisis. it's especially the acquisition or procurement that has the greatest trouble. let's deal with it that way. so obviously, in some ways the jury is still out on the mccain levin reform. they tend not to generate big-ticket savings in the near term.

acquisition reform is an area where so much intellectual effort has been invested, people don't seem to have engineered the problem correctly. it's about the individual leaders. you may be familiar that senator mccain one of his standard questions, especially from the ai have, is how much was the four class carrier overbudget. and the annals is $2 billion, generally. how many people lost their job because of that? none. so the general is e issue is first, even if we did as well as we could we wouldn't generate near what is necessary to make up the difference between

sequestration level budget and national defense panel level budgets. >> that's the reform we've got to see mooif forward. >> i agree with that.

we have these two binding obligations. to make sure that when they go out there, they have the best equipment. we want to satisfy both all of the time. but we're increasingly at the point where it's muscling out those other parts of the budget. at an event, recently, undersecretary of defense for president obama. you know she talks about it through her own personal experience. the benefits there are important. and she says that concerns me far more. i'm much more worried about having all the right equipment and all the things they need to accomplish the mission and survive and i am about a marginal decrease in the benefit.

that's not often what a congressman is going to hear because there's a huge amount of pressure. they don't want to have their benefits cut. >> we'll leave it on that provocative note. thank you for getting our conversations started today. my colleagues fpi&s around to all of you for joining us. [ applause ]

i believed in you.

i believed in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up. to reignite the promise of america. and that is why today, i'm announcing i am running for president of the united states. [ applause ]

>> thank you. thank you. good afternoon. it is the distinct pleasure to introduce our next speaker. a man i am proud to call a friend and a leader i am honored to serve as secretary of commerce, president baarack obama. in his first innaug ral address the president called for action. bold and swift. to grow america's e cobmy con economy and restore economic leadership around the world. he laid out a vision where

prosperity reaches business of all sizes workers of all markts and middle class families in all communities. to execute this vision, he recognized the importance of parter inning with the private sector, both at home and abroad. the spur economic success. and every day since, we and his entire administration have taken tar getted specific steps to make this vision a reality. to build a strong economy. the president understands as you do in business, that a strong economy needs a well-educated and well-prepared work force. to meet this charge, he led the way to put higher education in reach for every student and to offer the workers of today the skills needed to compete in the

industries of tomorrow. to bimd that foundation his administration has laid more than 113,000 miles of broad band and worked to connect 99% of students to high speed internet. the president understands as you do in business, that a strong economy must be an innovative economy. to help spur innovation he oversaw the largest increase in funtz for basic scientific research in history.

the president understands that a strong economy depends on access to more markets worldwide he signed three new trade agreements. and our team is fully committed to come completing new trade packs with the asia pacific and europe. to ensure more american-made goods reach the 95% of customers who live beyond our borders. finally, the president understands, as you do in business that a strong economy is friendly to all companies. to fulfill that promise, he created select usa. president obama has made foreign drekt investment a priority. because your investments lead to better paying jobs.

when president obama addresses our first usa summit he remiebd u minded us, and i quote\ history shows over the last two centuries that when you bet on america, that bet pays off. that statement has been true since our nation's founding. and e and with the leadership, swift actions and bold vigszsion of this president, that will remain true long into the future. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming my friend, the 44th president of the united states, barack obama. [ applause ] >> thank you so much. please, have a seet. well, thank you, everybody. let me begin by thanks peggy for

her outstanding leadership. we've got six cabinet secretaries and dozens of u.s. ambassadors here which should tell you that select usa is a major priority for its administration. since i was here with you 17 months ago, this gathering has doubled in size. i want to thank all 2600 of you. elected officials and local leaders from across this country and local business leaders around the world. thank you for making this a priority, as well. the fact is there's never been a more exciting time for us to do business together. today, i want to talk about why america is not only the right place for you to invest but why america is the safest, strongest, smartest place for you to invest than we've been in a very long time. after the worst economic crisis

since the great depression, america is now in the mist e midst of the longest streak of private sector job growth on record. 60 straight months. 12 million new jobs. birz businesses in america have added more than 200,000 jobs each month for 12 straight months. that's the first time that's happened in nearly 40 years. our employment rate has fallen from 10% in 2009 to 5.5% today. after a decade of obama slensmanufacturers adding jobs at a rate not seen since the 1980s. in fact, the man ewe factturering sector is going faster than the rest of the economy. laes last week, i announced $500 million of new public and private investment in strepgtenning american manufacturing.

and even though the united states is already home to more foreign direct investments than any other country in the world, we worked hard to address some of the challenges that held us back for too long. our high school graduation rate is now at an all-time high. more college degrees than ever before. our energy production is booming. our energy coasts are low. our leadership on climate change is restored. on the fiscal front, our deficits have shrink by two-thirds. our health care costs are flattening out for the first time in half a century. over the past six years we've worked hard to make ourselves a smarter place to invest and to do business than any other country in the world. we have a good story to tell. and that's one reason i created select usa. the first-ever government-wide

initiative encouraged more companies from around the world to invest and create jobs right here in the united states. we've got a good story to tell, but we have wanted to make sure that all of you had a clans to hear. and the select usa team wakes up every morning with one mission. bringing jobs creating investment to the united states of america e america. it's a kind of one-stop shop. so the match-making surface, for investing. economic development organization from arn the country can connect with foreign i believe invoes e ves xxs from around the world who are interesting eed in bringing their businesses here. understand, a lot of state and local leaders in this room have been working tirelessly for a long time to attract foreign investment. the idea behind select usa, just to make it easier for you to do that. and easier for international

partners to find the best opportunities. and by the beginning of this year, select usa had assisted more than a thousand clients helping to generate more than 20 $20 billion of investment in the united states. investment that has spurred economic groit andwth and kraeted jobs all across the country. companies in this room have invested $13 billion this year which will create an estimated 2 e 32,500 new jobs. so what's great about select usa is that everybody wins. communityings that welcome foreign investors see more jobs and economic activity and they can reach more potential investors. the companies that invest in america have access to the largest market in the world. and that's a market that is strong and stable and growing. and one thing i want to emphasize, it's not just big corporations or billion dollar

investments that make a difference: with the help of select usa, for example, a canadian company invested $7 million to rescue a failing company in berk county, north carolina. and that investment saved 45 jobs they recently cut the ribbon on a new plant that will ultimately create more man 200 new jobs. [ applause ] >> that's good. [ applause ] >> with the help from select usa's rehab technology a swift medical robotics firm announced a merger with interactive motion technologies. the new company will head quarter in massachusetts and, today, it's announcing a new $5 million investment to expand this year. so we're seeing real results from select usa. and we want to build on that momentum and get even more to invest.

so today, we're going to expand and improve our services. we're launching a new parter in ship between state and federal economic development officials. we're launching the select usa academy with on site training programs for investors, we're improving our online investment tools, helping companies identify state-based incentives so that they can decide where to invest. so for companies considering their investment here, i want to be as clear as possible. america is the best place in the world to do business. we've got the most skilled and productive workers. the best universities. the most innovative entrepreneurs in the world. with global leaders and pat ents, home not only to more r&d investment than any other country, but to nearly one-third of all r&d investment in the world.

our access to global markets makes it easy to ship goods maid e made in the usa around the world. our commit 789ment to to the rule of law make america a dependable place to innovate and do business. and we're a country that always believes we can do better. a country that adapts and advances and accepts new standards for new times. it's one of the reasons why i put forth a budget for this coming fiscal year that refleblgts the realities of the new economy. we're going to give workers and businesses the tools they need to succeed in a fast-paced, highly competitive, constantly changing world. and that means new investments in education. new investments in job training, including making two years of community college free. because we want to make sure that our workers continue to be prepared to fill the jobs that you intend to bring here. it means new investments in

manufacturing and 21st century infrastructure. 21st century businesses need. we're modernizing ports. strengthening our bridges. making internet and wireless and broad band far more accessible more quickly. now, that's my budget. i recognize there is something called congress here. and they're going to be some negotiations taking place. so far republicans in congress have put ford e forward a dichbt kind of budget. but i'm confident that we can find a way forward. i'm confident that we can find a path that doesn't undermine our standings but strengthens it. because the things that help businesses grow are not partisan. there shouldn't be anything partisan about making sure that our kids get the best education possible. or that we've got world class

infrastructure. we're working together on a bipartisan trade promotion authority and strong new trade deals from asia to europe that right-hand turn just free, but are also fair and reciprocal. trade deals that help businesses grow our exports and put american workers first. and i'm confident that we can, together, reait rise the export-import back of the united states giving our businesses one more tool that they need to compete. today, i'm please e pleased to announce a new action to make global company e companies grow today to launch and invest in theist.

>> one of the things that would make america more attractive to businesses and grow our economy and keep this country safer and stronger and smarter would be a comprehensive immigration reform package. and that's why i'm going to continue to push and prod and poke and cajole friends of the republican par tis to get on board and help get this done. we need to get immigration reform done here in the united states of america. that's who we are.

>> there's a lot of deals to be done right here under this roof. and i hope that everybody is going to take full advantage of it. we're committed to select usa for the long haul. we are committed to building parter in ships so that our companies and our communities could thrive together. and we intend to be with you not just today or tomorrow but in the years and decades ahead. that's my commitment to you. because we are confident that if you invest in any of the communities that are represented here, what you will find is not only outstanding workers and not just outstanding infrastructure and not just an extraordinary market.

they respect business and they're looking forward to would recollecting with you. all right? thank you very much, everybody. good luck. [ applause ]

>> supreme court justices anthony kenty and steven brieer took questions on other topics including this one posed to justice kennedy about cameras in the courtroom. >> people suggest that maybe the court should televise oral arguments, that people could see firsthand what goes on. and i know the court has historically rejected that. i think it was justice

sotomayor, before we e she went on the bench thought it would be a good idea to televise the arguments. she changed her mind and thinks it it's not a good idea. so i just wondered, do you sense any change? do you think there will be a day when oral arguments will be on television? do you think that's good? or that's not good? in the context of education? could you all comment on that? >> the question, do i think there will be a day when it's more or less behind the times -- >> no, it's just a matter of, you know, history. today, if you checked that -- >> if you had english-style debating debate and you were handed the topic and had the easier protocol, you could make a lot of good arguments for television in the courtroom. number one, it teaches -- we teach what the constitution is. we teach what rights are. we teach what rights are.

we're teachers. so why don't we go on the tell vigsz? and it would be very good for lawyers who haven't been before us before who want to see the dynamic of an argument. and it's opened. the public could see that we spent a lot of time on papt e patent cases and railroad reorganization cases and so forth so that we have a technical commitment. and they could see we hoped an argument that's rationale and respectful when we're in disagreement, our institution -- our institutional tradition is not to make our colleagues look bad, it's to make the constitution look good. and part of that is the way we conduct oral argumentings. . we're concerned that the presence of the tv camera, the knowledge that we're going to be

on tv, would affect the way that we behave. and it's an insidious dynamic to think that one of my colleagues has happened just so that he or she is on tv. i don't want that dynamic. >> so you could make good arguments, anyway. i think i can speak for most of my colleagues. i do we have audios available. and the transcripts are available. >> the press has an advantage.

they know three, four, six months in a advance what it is. they can picture the litigants and so forth and they're all ready to write the story depending on what we rite e write. so we have good press coverage as well. but i think cameras in the courtroom are not a good idea. >> you can see all of that hearing with justices anthony kennedy and stephen breyer on line at cspan.org. the house and senate this week are considering their budget plans for fiscal year 2016. floor debates started in the senate monday and the house is expected to start debate on their proposal tuesday. the republican budget plan in the house would allow for $3.8 trillion in spending and it would aim to balance the budget in less than ten years without raising taxes. it would also increase defense spending but kwutcut more than $5 trillion elsewhere. members of the house budget committee met last week to consider amendments to the budget plan. this portion of the meeting is

just under four hours. >> the committee will now come to order. i ask unanimous consent that mr. buchanan of florida be allowed to sit at the dice pending his official appointment by the house this afternoon. without objection so ordered. we will proceed with consideration of the fiscal year 2016 concurrent resolution on the budget. i want to thank mr. van hall land of maryland to work with me for developing an agreement that closely follows what's been done in the past. our goal is to consider the budget resolution in a timely fashion. we have a long day ahead of us and i want to thank everyone for their cooperation. we will complete by midnight.

in fact, i hope we can finish sooner. under the agreement we've reached with the minority, we'll have presentations on the budget, 45 minutes controlled by the majority 45 minutes controlled by the minority. i'll make an opening statement and the ranking member will make his opening statement and after those opening statements the majority will reuse the remaining time left and then the minorly use its time left in its 45 minute block. any member that doesn't get an opportunity to speak during that period of time or has additional comments may submit them for the record. after presentations are concluded we will have a staff walk through in which our members may ask my questions. the walk through will be for one hour and the minority may ask questions they like with respect to the chairman's mark after the walk through we'll proceed with the amendments in accordance with the agreement we've worked out with the ranking member and i'll describe that process in more detail when we get to that

point let me make a comment about this great committee that we all love. and that is by its very nature it generates passionate debate on both sides our custom and tradition is to set an example for the entire house and do so in a collegial manner. our ideological disagreements don't have to result in personal attacks and i request we will operate with the appropriate courtesy and decorum and i want to thank you all for your cooperation with that request. i recognize the gentleman from indiana. >> i thank the chair for that statement. i ask unanimous consent consistent with clause four of house rule 16 the chairman be authorized to declare a recess at any time. >> without objection, so ordered. we whether now move into opening statements. i want to once again welcome everybody and thank you for being here. we meet here today to consider the fiscal year 2016 budget

resolution. i can't thank enough every individual who's been part of developing these positive solutions to address our nation's fiscal and economic challenges. when we look at america today, we see a nation that's not living up to its economic and leadership potential. too many of our neighbors are out of work or living paycheck to paycheck. too many hardworking taxpayers are learning to do more with less while washington is unwilling or uni believe to solve the challenges with positive solutions. we know we can do better and we must do better. on behalf of the individuals, the families and the job creators all over this great country. those that get up everyday to make their part to make their communities safe and strong. the budget proposal we're considering is a plan to make washington more efficient, more effective and more accountable to those that we serve. to create a genuine opportunity and healthier economy. our plan honors our commitments to the american people so that we deliver real results.

first and foremost we balance the budget. we achieve $5.5 trillion in savings over a ten-year period of time and eliminate annual deficits so we can begin to pay down the debt and avoid the fiscal crisis that is threatening our nation's very future. this isn't just some accounting exercise. remember that every single dollar that's used to -- in taxes to pay taxes and every single dollar that's borrowed is a dollar that can't be used to buy a car, to pay the rent, to send a kid to college or technical school, to pay the mortgage, to expand a job. getting our debt under control will create meaningful and measurable results that will benefit every single american. a balanced budget means a healthier economy where folks can have more confidence and certainty about the future. it means we avoid anout-of-control growth in our nation's debt, in interest payments on that debt which by themselves will swallow critical spending priorities. we avoid future tax increases and true austerity measures that

would harm families and job creators. our budget sets forth positive solutions to save and strengthen an secure programs like medicare and medicaid so they can actually deliver on the commitments that we've made to the american people. in our budget, we ensure we're meeting our responsibility to provide for the defense of our nation so we have a stronger safer, more secure america. the brave men and women who protect our freedom need the resources to complete their mission. this budget honors our commitment to them, their families, and to the veterans whose proud legacy they carry with them. in a dangerous world, a future fiscal crisis would make the job of protecting and defending the american people that much more difficult. in fact, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen highest-ranking military officer in the country just a few years ago was asked what the single greatest threat to our nation was and he said the nation's debt. that's a threat our budget aims to defeat head on. there can be no national security without economic

security. as we all know, too often washington focuses on short term political considerations rather than real problem solving, where rhetoric takes the place of real results. in our budget we taken a honest look at our vital government commitments, whether it's to seniors on medicare or veterans who serve this nation with honor and distinction and we make certain the promises are kept and real results are achieved. when it comes to controlling spending, we do not ask the american people to bail out washington with higher taxes and more debt, we take our responsibility seriously and genuinely, to genuinely address the drivers of that debt. our budget puts a premium on accountability and efficiency and effectiveness in all areas of federal government. we streamline government functions with regulatory authority to stop taxpayer dollars from being wasted on programs that simply are not working. we also acknowledge that the best ideas don't necessarily come from washington. year after year we see more power concentrated here in

washington where decisions are made with a one size fits all top down approach. america is a diverse nation. our cities and states and local communities know best how to develop solutions that will best serve their people. our budget realigns the relationship the federal government has with states and local communities by respecting and restoring the principle of federalism, to provide more choices and more opportunity to folks across our land. from health care to education, states will be empowered to create their own solutions free of the onerous washington mandates and overregulation. this plan, this balanced budget for a stronger america, that is blueprint for how we solve our nation's fiscal and economic challenges. the success of these ideas is dependent on the courage and the common sense of policymakers to break away from the failed policies of the past and pursue a new course a hopeful course. we're ready to turn these words into actions and produce real

results for the american people. again, i appreciate so very much the diligent work of our members on our committee and their staffs and our committee staff for their work on this important endeavor and i look forward to today sincerely, look forward to an open and honest and productive conversation. i now recognize the ranking member mr. van hollen. >> i thank you, chairman bryce. as we gather here today we face some good news, some bad news and some very bad news. the good news the that the economy is improving and more americans are working. the private sector has now added 12 million new jobs over the last 60 months. it's not all rosy, many americans are still looking for work, but the unemployment rate has fall on the 5.5% and trends are good. the bad news is that americans are working harder than ever but their paychecks are flat. this is not a new problem it has become a chronic problem that dates back to the 1970s.

that has chart shows, there has been a growing gap between the increased value workers are creating in the economy, which is that blue line, and the paychecks that they're taking home. worker productivity is steadily climbing. paychecks, flat lining. so where are the gains from that hard work going? well, income gains from increased worker productivity have gone overwhelmingly to those at the very top of the income scale as this next chart shows. the red line are the income gains from the top 1%. everybody else pretty much flat lines. so it's no wonder that people i talk to in maryland and around the country feel like they're running in place or falling behind. now, right after the last election there was some hope that republican leaders understood this problem. speaker boehner and republican senate leader mcconnell wrote in the "wall street journal" that they were humbled by the

opportunity to "help struggling middle-class americans." and deal with "wage stagnation." but with today's republican budget, the country gets the very bad news. they were just kidding. this republican budget is very hard on hard-working americans and those looking to find a job. it says work harder take home even less. it will do nothing, nothing to increase paychecks and take-home pay for working families. in fact, it squeezes them even more. it will increase the tax burden on millions of families, those in the middle-class and those working to join the middle-class. amazingly, it cuts higher education tax credits and ends the boost in the child tax credit. millions of americans will lose access to tax credits for affordable health care. the cuts in student loans and

pell grants will make college less affordable and add to the already-huge student debt load. seniors who have worked hard for a financially secure retirement will immediately have to pay higher medicare premiums, bigger co-pays for preventative care higher costs for prescription drugs and more for nursing home care. while this budget raises the costs and further squeezes hard-working families students, and seniors it paves the way for the romney/ryan plan to cut tax rates for millionaires. it's based on the tired and disproven theory that we can grow our economy through trickle-down economics, a theory that ran around in the real world under george bush where the only things that went up where the incomes of the folks already doing well and the deficit. everybody else fell behind. and while this budget will immediately make life hardener the daily lives of working families, it also disinvests in

our future. it slashs the budget we use to invest in our kids' education, from early education to k-12. it's a sad day when we start chopping away at the rungs of the ladder of opportunity in america. it devastates the investments we make in scientific research and innovation. investments that have helped power our economy and kept us at the cutting edge of technology provides no solution for the looming shortfall in the transportation trust fund. and, by the way, when i say it disinvests in america this is not rhetoric, it's math. let me show you what it does over the next ten years. that horizontal line is the lowest level we've seen as a share of the economy invested in our education, scientific research since the 1950s. this takes us 40% below the lowest level since we've been keeping records. and it does it without balancing

the budget. mr. chairman this budget doesn't come close to balancing. in fact it takes budget quackery and creativity to a new level. it actually assumes the revenue and savings from the affordable care act while claiming it gets rid of the affordable care act. it doesn't account for the cost of almost $1 trillion in business tax cuts that our colleagues have called for. and it plays a shameless shell game with our defense spending. it would make enron accountants blush. now, most americans would agree that the policies in this budget -- cutting tax rates for the wealthy while increasing the tax burden on working americans, increasing costs on students and seniors, cutting vital investments -- simply stacks the deck even more in favor of the already powerful. we can do better. we can do much better.

and next week the democrats in the house will propose a budget that promotes a more rapidly growing economy with more broadly shared prosperity. that is the right direction for the country. i thank you, mr. chairman and look forward to a vigorous debate today. >> i thank the ranking member. we will now proceed to opening statements from members of the majority and we will use the balance of our 45 minutes. following which the minority will use the balance of their 45 minutes and we will begin with the vice chairman of the budget committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you and the members of this committee for their commitment to produce a responsible federal budget that balances in less than ten years and'm powers all americans to build better lives for themselves and their families. i say members of the budget committee, when i say that i mean both republicans and democrats. this is my fifth budget that i've been proud to be a part of

and in all those discussions with the majority and minority members i would say we get a better product every year. this is the quickest that the budget balances in the last several that we've done and it is in stark contrast to the president's budget. a budget that never balances ever. this budget takes responsibility for actually addressing our $18 trillion national debt with another 100 trillion or so on the way over the next 30 to 40 years. the president would like the american people to believe that we can continue down the path we're on spending money we don't have without any consequence. let me tell you, the average hoosier in my district understands that they can't spend more money than they make -- at least not for long. and you certainly can't spend your way to prosperity. a balanced budget is crucial to

giving individual, families and job creators greater certainty for the future. it shows the american people we are ready to make the tough decision and hold government accountable for how it spends our taxpayer dollars, our property. the budget reduces spending by $5.5 trillion without, mr. van hollen -- tax increases and accounting gimmicks. it delivers real results, promotes what's going on in the states. it trusts states, the laboratories of democracy. it demands accountability, efficiency and effectiveness from us in the federal government. this plan truly balances our budget which will result in a stronger america, a stronger future. i'd also like to point out that even under this budget plan the federal government will still spend trillions of dollars annually and more than $43 trillion in the next ten years. that is a lot of money. americans deserve to know that their hard-earned property is being spent wisely so as we begin this markup today, i encourage my colleagues to abandoned the tired by now political and dogmatic approach

to how we talk about these programs. instead of asking how much more money can we throw at these programs a simple formula that has at every observation not worked, we must ask are these programs working. if not, how can we improve them? how can we make them stronger and sustainable for future generations? these are the questions that were asked as the house budget committee majority members crafted this project. i'm proud of this budget and i commend the chairman and my colleagues for their diligent work. with that i yield back. >> thank you, i yield to the gentleman from new jersey. >> i thank you. i'd like to begin by thanking the chair and the committee as well for their hard work on the budget resolution this committee will consider today. mr. chairman, as you know, back on january 20, 2009, president obama took office, the federal debt stood at that time at $10.6 trillion. now the federal debt is over $18 trillion. that's an increase of over 70%. so the debt now represents more

than 100% of the gdp. what does that mean? in other words americans owe more money to its creditors than the value of all the goods and all the services produced in the united states in an entire year. this level of debt, to put it mildly, is unsustainable. the non-partisan congressional budget office states that "our high and rising debt would have serious negative consequences for both the economy and the federal budget." admiral mike mullen perhaps put it best when he said that "the single biggest threat to our national security is our debt." so we do a disservice to the american people if we're not up front with the debt. as representatives of the people we must be honest about the crisis facing this country and what it will take to address it. we must identify duplications areas of waste and opportunities for reform in all areas of spending including entitlements and defense spending. by ensuring taxpayer dollars are

wisely spent, we will preserve our social safety net as well as america's national security. so today will be the day we embark on a new path where democrats and republicans work together in good faith to put forth a plan that transparently and honestly balances the budget and i hope that it is. that is why i commend chairman price for hissers and urge all members to support this budget as he and his staff put forth together. with that i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman and i recognize the gentlemen from mr. california, mr. mcclintock. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the elephant in the room is national debt that has doubled in eight years. and on its current trajectory will sink this country. according to the cbo, within a decade the interest costs for this debt will exceed our entire defense budget. that's why the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff warned us that this was the greatest single threat to our national

security and i might add that was five years and four and a half trillion dollars of debt ago. we can not provide for the common defense if we can not pay for it. history warns us that countries that bankrupt themselves aren't around very long. the debt, however, is driven principally not by the one-third of our spending that's discretionary but by the two-thirds of our spending that's mandatory. we can not continue to ignore the increasingly dire warnings that both medicare and social security will collapse on an entire generation of americans in just a few years unless immediate steps are taken to restore them to solvency. for the past four years, this committee in this house have passed budgets to address these issues, bring us back into balance within the decade and therefore pay down the enormous debt that directly threatens the prosperity and security of our children's generation. for four critical years these

budgets fell on deaf ears in the senate. fortunately, with the new majority we have the fleeting opportunity to enact a budget that averts the predictable crisis just ahead of us. that will involve compromises in policy, but in doing so we must not compromise the integrity of this budget document. among the most chilling words inhistory are attributed to louis xv. after us, the flood. let that not be the epitaph of our generation. >> i thank the gentleman and i recognize the gentlelady from tennessee. >> thank you mr. chairman for your leadership on this very important issue. unlike the president's plan, this budget is a serious proposal that balances our budget and helps grow the economy. our national -- our nation is $18 trillion in debt and if we want to preserve this country for our children and grandchildren we must reform the way that washington works.

everyone knows that medicare will soon go bankrupt and that's why i'm pleased this budget proposal say this is important program for today's seniors and tomorrow's retirees. by transitioning to a premium support program, we can preserve medicare for those who are in or near retirement and strengthen medicare for younger generations. further more this budget ends obamacare obamacare's raid on the medicare trust fund and repeals obamacare's independent payment advisory board an unelected and unaccountable board of bureaucrats charged with making coverage decisions for medicare. despite what some critics say, this does not eliminate traditional medicare. instead, it ensures that americans will always have traditional medicare as an option. under this plan every senior will have if support they need to get the care they deserve. those who attack this reform without offering a credible

alternative are complicit in medicare's demise. i want to commend chairman price for leading on this issue and putting forward a solution to ensure medicare can be k continue to deliver quality care for years to come one way or another, this country will have to address our out-of-control debt and deficits and this budget does so responsibly. thank you, i yield back the balance of my time. >> i thank the gentlelady and recognize the yesly day from missouri. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to commend you and the rest of the colleagues on this committee for building a fiscally responsible budget that goes a long way to address our out-of-control spending problem and crushing debt the sfrags administration has fostered over the last few years. unlike the president's proposal our budget contains pro-growth economic reforms, rebeals obamacare and most importantly it balances. as i look at why this budget is important, i go back to the people of my district and how

this impacts them. it's good for people because it helps them in areas where the government has overreached. obamacare is hurting families. this budget provides health care that helps provide them choice. people in my district are reeling from energy costs. our budget helps provide a path to affordable energy and american energy independence. for the senior citizens in this country who have uncertainty about the future of medicare and other safety net programs we take steps to preserve and protect that. we encourage entrepreneurship which is important for our economy to grow. we reduce the tax burden the families in my district are facing april 15. it's important we reduce the tax burden and it gets to a path out of crushing debt for the children in our districts and what their future entails so i

commend the chairman and this committee for putting forth this budget and truly it will provide a balanced budget for a stronger america. and i yield back. >> i thank gentlelady. i am pleased to recognize the gentleman from south carolina, mr. rice. >> our economy continues to limp along. each year cbo lowers its forecast for growth over the next 10 years. 3% two years ago, 2.5% last year and now 2.1% for the next ten years predicted this year. i think one of the reasons for is the uncertainty that comes from washington that we put upon our economy because of our failure to deal with large problems. problems that i think nerve this room recognizes. i don't think that anybody in this room would argue that our

spending, our debt, is on an unsustainable pace. i think nerve this room would agree we need tax reform in some measure. regulatory reform. everybody understands and agrees, i think, that the social security trust fund is on a path to insolvency. and the medicare trust fund. and the highway trust fund. but we seem unable to grabble with these large issues. this budget solve these issues but lays out our position on many of the major issues that faces us. it lifts some of the clouds of uncertainty. this budget lays out an objective for tax reform. it lays out a path to make medicare solvent. it -- and it does it in a way that our budget balances in ten years. we relieve the increasing burden of debt from our children and

grandchildren. the budget's not perfect. we're not going to agree on everything. but it's a huge step in the right direction. i yield. >> i thank the gentleman and i'm pleased to yield to another gentleman from the great state of indiana. >> thank you mr. chairman, and thank you, mr. chairman, for your leadership and all the members on this committee who have worked really hard as we work towards putting a federal budget together again. there's no doubt that america is experiencing serious financial issues. one of the latest polls showed that the greatest concern of american s americans across the country is the government and that should not be the case people should be proud of their government's operations and how we work together to accomplish and address the challenges that we face. our national debt has soared past $18 trillion. our entitlement programs are

unfunded liabilities. and over 90 million people are not participating in the work force. it is our responsibility, not only as members of congress but specifically as members of this committee to produce a budget that will return washington to a time of fiscal responsibility and that will strengthen our country's economy unfortunately the president in his budget submission chose political short cuts over long-term solutions. instead of working towards meaningful reforms he chose to grow the size of the federal government with more taxes and spending. on top of that his budget never balances. ever. the budget before us however, is a bold plan to solve many of our fiscal problems that we face. for starters, it does balance within ten years. it reforms our entitlement programs and saves our social safety nets for future generations. it also reforms our mandatory

spending which makes up two-thirds of government spending. it provides resources to keep our military strong in a time when the world becomes more and more dangerous. it reforms our tax code cuts regulations and creates a certainty our economy desperately needs. the bottom line is this is a budget that our constituents can find hope in. it's a balanced budget for a stronger america and i hope that we as a committee in a bipartisan way can pass this budget thank you, mr. chairman i yield back. >> i thank gentleman and i'm pleased to yield to mr. sanford from south carolina. >> i thank the chairman and i find it astounding that it took us about 200 years to go from 0 to $5 trillion in national debt and over the eight years that the bush administration we went from $5 trillion to $10 trillion, double now over the obama administration it will double again from $10 trillion to $20 trillion. that's geometric growth in the significance and the weight of the deficit and the debts that

are accumulated. i find it equally start startling that you look about 20, 25 or so and our country, our civilization will reach a cross roads where there will be enough money for interest in entitlements and nothing else based on the current revenue stream unless we substantially raise taxes or draconian -- bring about draconian cuts to government or borrow much more money. so we are at a cross roads. mr. chairman, therefore i want to thank you you and other had beens of the committee for proposing this budget. to my colleague from maryland's point, it's not a perfect budget. but i think when it's compared against what the president proposed where he's talking about $2 trillion in debt and $8.5 trillion in new deficits and structural deficits about $500 billion in size to $1.1 trillion in size over the ten-year window it really is a marked improvement and i wholeheartedly support it. thank you for what you've done,

mr. chairman. i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. i'm pleased to yield to the newest member of our committee from the great state of florida mr. buchanan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the opportunity. i also want to thank and look forward to working with ranking member van hollen as well as all the members here on the committee. everybody has a different reason why they run for congress. for me personally i was concerned eight years ago about the debt and deficit. i came in '07. we were 8 trillion in change, today we're at $18 trillion. you look at 49 out of 50 governors, they have to balance the budget. look at florida after '08, we had less revenues, the next couple years they made the tough choices and made a difference and today we're more prosperous than ever in terms of what's going on in florida. it's not about when you look back historically about democrats that have been the problem or republicans, it's been both. over 50 years we've balanced the

budget four or five times. i grew up in the city in detroit and it was a great city, we were the fourth-largest city in the country, it went bankrupt. when you look at the cost of our debt today at $18 trillion, normally the cost of money is not 1%, it's 4% to 5%. 5% on soon to be $20 trillion is a trillion dollars a year. you look at overall how many dollars we take in terms of taxes and revenue $3, trillion, it could be as high as a third of the overall debt. that's why i believe in a constitutional balanced budget amendment that we can work towards. i think this is a good start. it's not perfect as some other members have mentioned but i think if we don't do it at some point, i don't know when that it, is it ends badly. that's why i want to do everything i can to move forward in terms of a balanced budget in the future. thank you. i yield back. >> i appreciate the gentleman's comment's. pleased to yield to the gentleman from arkansas mr.

womack. >> i thank the chairman. i have great respect for our chairman and ranking member van hollen for your leadership on this particular committee. it's a great honor to serve here. this is arguably the most fundamental of our legislative duties. and i'm mindful of the fact that there are as many opinions on the priorities of federal spending in the united states of america as there are members seated around this dais. indeed, the total membership of the house. nonetheless, it's our duty to coalesce around the budget that meets the demands of the world's greatest nation. the end result of our work should at a minimum keep our nation safe. it should address the long-term drivers of the deficits and debt that have been mentioned so often in this discussion and contribute to a climate that creates jobs and opportunities for all americans. it is my opinion that the two things most important for our country that this congress can do right now is to balance its

budget and to bring regular order to its legislative process. we're about to air our differences in this markup. what is sad is that we're going to be here for several hours doing what the average american does every night, sitting around their kitchen table in a matter of minutes. i am hopeful that we can do in the a constructive way so that those we represent are served by this effort. i yield back. >> thank the gentleman. pleased to yield to the gentleman from virginia, mr. brandt. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's a pleasure to work under your chairmanship thank you. to all my committee members on both sides as well. i don't want to reiterate the basics but i just take pride in the basic components of this budget as well. i was an economics professor for the past 18 years. i'm most proud of three mondaymentmonday

ment -- fundamental this is budget has. first, it balances within ten years. i taught college kids in an age bracket and we're going to be putting that debt, $18 trillion, on their generation. so for me, making some inroads on pearing back that debt, i think we all know interest rates are going up in the future, not down. this is a true benefit for the college kids i've talk todd for the past 18 years. i told them to come up here. they are the one group that does not have a lobbyist and is not represented up here. so i take that part of our job especially seriously. secondly. the debt is $18 trillion. the entitlements if you go to the bottom of the debt clock are $127 trillion. and depending on who you look at there's a purple group -- neither red nor blue -- estimated in the ballpark of $200 trillion. so those entitlement programs will take up the entire federal budget by 2032 if we don't get

our house in order. this budget starts to address those major major issues. none of those programs will be in existence in 2032 if we don't started a dressing them now. third, i did my ph.d. way back when on economic growth. that matters perhaps more than anything else. if you have growth, a lot of other issues fade in significance and this budget takes into account pro-growth incentives. so for all three of those reasons i'm proud to be associated with the work this budget committee has done and with that i yield back. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you gentlemen. pleased to yield to the gentleman from iowa mr. blum. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and also i'd like to thank you for your leadership on the budget committee. most economists do not agree on most things, but they do agree on this, mr. chairman. when a country's debt exceeds the size of its economy, bad things happen. and that bad thing is happening in america today and it's called

slow to sluggish economic growth. that's exactly what we have inherited from this administration and its policies. this budget, because of those policies contains an average annual gdp growth of 2.3% versus the 40-year average of 3.3%. in spite of this in spite of this, this budget actually balances. i emphasize the word "balances," because the president's budget never balances. and it balances in less than ten years without increasing taxes and i'd like to add this footnote. if the president and the administration would implement pro-growth economic policies, this budget would balance in far less than ten years. ronald reagan in 1980 said "no nation can tax and spend its way to prosperity." he was right in 1980 and he is

right today. and with that profound thought, i yield my time back, mr. chairman. >> i thank the gentleman. please yield to the gentleman from alabama mr. palmer. >> thank you mr. chairman. first of all i'd like to commend you for your vision and integrity in the leadership of this committee and commend the other members of the committee for the work they put in on this. mr. chairman, we here in a crisis. every year we spend more than we earn and try to convince ourselves deficits don't matter. in 2014, washington spent nearly $3.5 trillion while only collecting $3 trillion in revenues resulting in a deficit that is literally 14 cents on the dollar. in other words every dollar we spent we borrowed 14 cents of it against our children's future. voters turned out in the last election this past november and they came to the ballot box because many of them lost their health insurance plan or their

premiums skyrocketed because of obamacare. they voted because severe overregulation cost them their jobs because businesses cut back or closed. we're at a point now where the united states now ranks 12th among nations in terms of business startups and we now have more businesses closing than are opening up. the american people voted because they've seen enough of the reckless status quo in washington and they demanded a change. a responsible budget would show name this this congress is listening. i appreciate the work that went into this budget. this budget offers a framework for how to begin decreasing the size and scope of government. some of the best provisions included aing work requirements to welfare reform programs eliminating the department of defense's unnecessary and ineffective renewable energy goals and lifting the ban on exporting united states wealth of crude oil.

these are good ideas with real impact and we need more of them. we also need ideas that establish an environment in which businesses can start up and thrive and create the economic growth we need and more jobs. but we can not keep putting off real reforms that will get us to a fiscally responsible budget. i look toward working with this committee and other members on policies that will help us get our fiscal house north. thank you, mr. chairman, i yield the balance of my time. >> please to yield to the gentleman from michigan mr. chairman. >> in 2014 revenue to the federal government was 49% higher than it was in 2000 yet spending for the same year was 95% higher, nearly double what it was in 2000. spending on unsustainable

government program as a percentage of gdp has increased dramatically and crowded out funding for national security and other programs. mandatory spending alone in 2014 cost $2.3 trillion, more than was spent funding the entire federal government in 2004. with $18 trillion in debt and 320 million american ss, an individual share of the debt is $56,250, or $225,000 for a family of four. the budget we are proposing today keeps the promises we've made to our seniors and those near retirement age. it stabilizes and preserves social security by eliminating the double dipping between disability insurance and unemployment benefits. this budget also enhances our country's national security and as a number of people including the chairman have mentioned admiral mullen called the debt

the single-biggest threat to our national security. and as a senator, the president called the debt a hidden domestic enemy. this house republican budget addresses the debt in a meaningful way and changes the trajectory of government spending. this budget balances within ten years and doesn't raise taxes on hard-working americans. this budget puts our country on a path toward a more stable and responsible fiscal future and will boost our slow-growing economy, create jobs, raise wages and build a more prosperous america. i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. i'm pleased to yield now to the gentleman from arkansas mr. westerman. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and i, too, will voice my appreciation for your leadership on this committee for your integrity and your genuine concern for a better future for our country. in 1996, a fellow arkansan said

"today we are taking a historic chance to make welfare what is meant to be -- a second chance not a way of life." when president clinton signed the welfare reform act he said it's far from perfect legislation but will go a long way toward overcoming the flaws of the welfare system for the people who are trapped in it. during the ceremony he also quoted another iconic figure from across the aisle, robert kennedy, who said "work is the meaning of what this country all about. we need it as individuals. we need it -- we need to sense in the our fellow citizens and we need it as a society and as a people." even president franklin roosevelt said in a 1935 address to congress that sustained welfare programs are a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. it is in violation of the traditions of america. work must be found for able-bodied but destitute workers.

this budget provides a blueprint for work force requirements for able-bodied working-age adults while protecting service for the aged, the blind the disabled and children. we get what we incentivize and we are incentivizing able-bodied working age adults not to work. case in point, in my state we accepted the free money from washington, d.c. for medicaid expansion under the aca. the enrollment data results are back for the largest welfare expansion program in my state's history and please note that this program provided by 100% federal government funded health care not for the aged, the blind, the disabled and children that were already and are still covered under traditional medicaid but for able-bodied working age adults and of that population 40% have zero earned income. four out of ten have no job and no incentive to get one.

this budget provides a framework to allow states to compel able-bodied working age adults to work if they receive federal benefits. it saves hundreds of billions of dollars and allows these programs to be solvent in the future and to function as those before intended. president clinton said in 1996 that this is not the end of welfare reform, this is the beginning. and we have to all assume responsibility. i encourage my friends across the aisle to assume responsibility with us to create a balanced budget for a stronger america. i yield back my time, mr. chairman. >> i thank the gentleman and i want to thank all of my colleagues on the majority side for their cogent remarks and for their really -- their wise statements as it relates to the challenges that we face right now. it couldn't be more clear the difficulties that we have. sometimes, though, our constituents say it best. i had a former colleague who called me and said "price, it's

just math. that's all it is it's just math." i said, "hank, what do you mean?" he said "we spend about $12,000 for every man, woman and child in this country every year and we only take in about $10,000 for every man, woman and child in this country. it doesn't work." it can't work in your home. it can't work in your business. so what we're putting forward here is a balanced budget for a stronger america. positive solutions and i want to underscore a couple comments made. a few folks talked about the growth that's occurring right now. you talk about stagnant growth. this is the lowest, slowest economic recovery ever in the history of the country out of an economic downturn. if penal are honest with themselves, the folks in this audience, the people across this country, if you're honest with yourself you have to step back and say why? what's happening? why is it the slowest economic recovery ever? why has the congressional budget office estimated growth over the next ten years four years ago at

3% three years ago at 2.9% two years ago at 2.7% now 2.3%. why is that that this congressional budget office says that growth is slowing down? if we're honest, it's because of the policies coming out of this town. so what we're trying to do is to say to our friends on the other side of the aisle, look there are solutions. there are positive solutions that can meet these challenges. that's what our budget does. this balanced budget for a stronger america. my colleagues talked about the budget that gets to balance and it does. we'll hear talk today from our friends that it doesn't get to balance. well, when there's more revenue coming into the federal government than going out, that's called balance and that's what our budget does. and it's important to appreciate that. it's also important to appreciate that you can't pay off the debt until you have a surplus. the debt continues to go up and

the more it increase, the more we're paying increase on the debt. the folks talk about the volume of money we're going to require to be needed to just pay the interest, it will be a trillion dollars a year. trillion dollars a year. just interest on the debt. every one of those dollars is dollars that can't be used by the american people for productive kinds of activity. we ought to be ashamed of ourselves if that's all that we can do in this town as it relates to budgeting. so we balance the budget. we balance the budget in less than ten years, we do so without raising taxes. taxes are at this point when taxes are raised on the american people it actually decreases their vitality. decreases their economic ability to improve their lives in this great country. we do so in a way, though that recognizes that the programs that exist out there for individuals that there are

challenges there as well. medicare, not according to yours truly but according to the medicare actuaries, is going broke. the president's plan apparently, is to let it go broke. the budget doesn't address it. in fact, his programs, not just his budget, his programs actually take money, raid medicare. $716 billion to prop up another program, obamacare, that, frankly, is not just a problem for our economy, it's a problem for our health, the american people, as a formerly practicing physician i can tell you there's real challenges out there in that arena but we save and strengthen and security medicare, provide a program that's a -- that would be a guaranteed program for individuals, seniors, to have health coverage, have an array of options, choices. choices that my friends on the other side of the aisle will remember the congressional budget office says that appropriately designed saves

must be for seniors and also saves money for the federal government. that's what we call a win-win. what we call a real solution. and it's a guaranteed program for seniors and allows them the kind of choices they need to respond to the needs that they have in their own lives. we recognize that this is a very dangerous world. very dangerous world. and what we believe is that the appropriate resources need to be put in place for our military to respond to the mission. respond to the challenges that they have in a way that protects our liberty and our freedom. the president's budget, what does he do? makes up a number. throws it out. there says this is a good dream. i'd like to have this number. well, we would, too, but the fact of the matter is he doesn't lay out a plan to clang the law to get to that number. that's what we do. we lay out a plan. a concrete, honest sincere

plan transparent plan that says this is what we need to do and how we're going get there. the challenge that we have in changing the law because that's what's required is that we need some help from the other side of the aisle and sadly that's been -- that's been lacking. and the president's been less than helpful in coming to the table to solve the challenge that we've got in making certain that our military has the kind of resources that it needs. we embrace the notion of federalism that's at the heart of our nation. not just because we think that states are governments that are closer to the people and therefore often most often make more responsive decisions for their people, but because it provides greater choices and greater opportunity for individuals back home. what's right in georgia isn't necessarily what's right in indiana or maryland or california or new york. and so providing greater flexibility, greater opportunity, greater choices for local governments, state

governments, that's how you solve these challenges. people know that they can contact their state legislator much more readily than they can contact their member of congress or the united states senator. that's where a lot of these -- when it's appropriate to have those decisions made locally that's writ ought to be made. i'm excited, enthusiastic about the budget we're putting forward. this balanced budget amendment for -- balanced budget for america are going to have a great conference. our friends on the other side are going to suggest amendments. i would urge folks to listen carefully how many times taxes will be raised how much more money they want to take out of your pocketbook in order to pay for their priorities, and often times their priorities, that frankly, haven't worked. they're the kinds of programs that have gotten us to this slow growth. so we look forward to the day ahead, we look forward to the conversation that we'll have and i want once again to thank the

members of the majority who have worked tirelessly tirelessly along with their staffs to come forward with this positive solution positive solution for the challenges that we face. a balanced budget for a stronger america. and i now recognize the ranking member who will control the remaining time for the minority to provide its presentation. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm going to turn this debate over to my colleagues in a minute but just to quickly respond to a few of the points you have raised. i can't emphasize enough the fact that this republican budget does not balance. don't take it from me take it from republicans, including the new senate leader on the senate budget committee senator enzi who pointed out that using the affordable care act revenue to balance the budget is a gimmick. here's what he says "one of the problems i've had with budgets that i've looked at is they use a lot of gimmicks." and he points out it assumes the obamacare will go away but that all the money will still be

there. then he says "i'd like to see us get to real accounting with the budget." also, trillion dollars in business tax cuts that have been proposed by our colleagues on the floor of the house, some last year, some this year. not counted for in this budget. let's talk about defense spending. the chairman said the president doesn't have a plan? actually, the president does have a plan. he got rid of the provision in the law that caps defense spending where it is. he did it the straightforward transparent way. the reason we're late today, we were supposed to start at 10:30, we start at 11:00, is because we know our republican colleagues couldn't figure out what they want to do on defense spending. what did they come up with? a total scam work around. we'll talk about it a little bit later. senator mccain said "it's not legitimate budgeting." putting all the money in the oco account when the joint chiefs of staff say they don't need those funds for overseas war operations? we're going to have an

interesting discussion today. we'll hear about how our colleagues said last year we shouldn't you oco as a slush fund. so mr. chairman this budget is not balanced by a long shot. let's talk and medicare. it's interesting to hear this premium support plan. we have a good system for medicare. we've got to work on strengthening it. we have proposals to strengthen it. the voter plan? the voucher plan is like that affordable care act for medicare. it's like obamacare for medicare. we didn't need that for medicare, we already have a plan. but for millions of uninsured americans, a lot of democrats said we wanted medicare for all. republicans said no. heritage foundation newt gingrich, let's do something else. let's ask everybody to take responsibility for medicare. and if they can't afford it we'll give them a tax credit. that was a republican idea that

president obama adopted. it was a romney plan. president obama adopted it. republicans ran away from it and now you want to impose that same theory on medicare? it's just bizarre. let's talk about taxes. yeah, we think that there are lots of loopholes in the tax code. we don't think we should be providing special tax breaks for corporate jets. we don't think you should have a special accelerated schedule for racehorses, some of us. we don't think that hedge fund managers should get special tax breaks. and so, yes, we think that we should close some of those loopholes and use those funds to reduce our deficit in a straight ford, transparent way. so i'm looking forward to the debate today. i know my colleagues are. and we believe we should have a budget that really does help hard-working americans not a budget that raises their costs,

as this budget does. so with that i want to turn the debate over to congressman gwen moore to kick us off. ms. moore? >> thank you mr. ranking member, and thank you mr. chairman and members. i'm very concerned about the chairman's mark. it's very concerning. much ado is made over the redistribution of wealth republicans have really regaled with us this criticism for decades. but this budget sets the table for the ways and means committee to cut the top tax rate to 25%, thus shifting the tax burden to average americans who will pay at least $2,000 apiece for this tax shift. it ends tax credits not to welfare recipients but to hard-working, struggling parents who are trying to send their kids to school. it completely ignores the trillion dollars. much ado is made of the debt in

this country but a trillion dollars a year is spent through the tax code with tax expenditures for offshore tax havens, gas and oil subsidies. in fact, 17% of the tax expenditures are consumed by the top 1%. there's much discussion about the national security interests and wanting to beef up our national security in this budget. but the greatest threat to our national security is not some foreign enemy somewhere, it is because of income inequality. income inequality is greater than it's ever been since 1928. we pretty much know what happened in 1929. we entered the great recession and, of course, in 2007 when we had the great collapse we had the greatest inequality. we have the greatest inequality

of any democracy in the world. we're ignoring our students. we're ignoring important infrastructure. we are at precipice of collapse all in the name of quote and quote balancing a budget. it's very frightening that this debate gets cast as a debate of you know, welfare recipients and unworthy poor people who need health care and food stamps. the reality is that the 1% is who we're really protecting in this budget. i would yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from wisconsin. >> thank you, and thank you, mr. chairman. this budget is completely the wrong direction for this country. what we need to do. it's going to make americans work harder for less. the budget will squeeze those hardworking americans and make it harder to be able to afford a home by keeping their paychecks stagnant. it's going to make it harder to send your kids to college because you're cutting student loans and grants.

it's going to be harder to have a secure retirement because you're privatizing medicare. and it does all this just to provide new tax breaks to the super wealthy. just take a look at what we're doing in this budget. we still allow the off share tax havens, the inversions that take money and put it overseas. we still are encouraging million dollar ceo bonuses in this budget. we still subsidize oil companies and gas companies who have record profits. and we're still favoring special interests with large tax breaks. and in this budget, we provide brand new huge tax breaks for the wealthiest among us. in fact, it green lights the ryan tax plan, the last budget, although i noticed those 50 words have been removed out of all the words around tax policy. we know this is going to green light a top tax rate to 25%. and that's got to be paid by someone and that's going to be paid by the middle-class. let me just very quickly go through some of the thins that's going to happen to hard-working

americans because of these tax breaks for the wealthiest. one, it's going to increase their taxes. it does so immediately in health care, child care and other areas. it fails to propose any jobs agenda. it rejects a minimum wage increase. it has cuts in education from k-12, to pre-k to cuts to pell grants and income base red payment programs for higher education. it cuts research to the lowest level since 2002. it cuts job training dollars that people can get jobs in an economy that is coming back after 58 or 59 consecutive months of job growth. we still need to make sure everyone can come back. and finally it's going to cut the medicare guarantee that we have had with americans and it's going to cut the affordable care act and 16 million people could lose their health care coverage because we need to provide new tax breaks for the wealthiest 1% or 2% in this country. that's exactly what this budget does. the wealthiest gets more, the

rest of us pay for it and hardworking americans are going to work harder for less. i yield back my time. >> can i reclaim the 21 seconds? mr. chairman i would like without objection to enter into the record remarks by janet yellen, per spebive thes on inequality and opportunity from a survey of consumer finances. >> without objection. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i now yield five minutes to ms. lee to talk about how this budget disinvests in america. >> thank you let me thank our ranking member and our chairman for this hearing and let me just say up front, judging by this budget, it really seems that our republican colleagues have not realized that austerity is truly a failed policy. they once again put forth a slash-and-burn budget that dismantles the very investments that have been proven to grow our economy and to keep it strong. and they once again include

devastating cuts that will push more children, seniors and families into poverty. many of these investments began 50 years ago under president johnson's war on poverty which have lifted millions ott of poverty into the middle-class. make no mistake. these austerity budgets have real impacts. because of the sequester, for example, 57,000 children could not be enrolled in head start. 100,000 fewer low income households received rental housing vouchers and hundreds of thousands of meals could not be distributed to seniors who live at home. the individual and economic effects of these budget cuts really can't be underestimated. take, for example, cuts to education. from early childhood and higher education and job training for 21st century work force, it really is unconscionable that this budget keeps special interest tax breaks while claiming that there's not enough left to educate our young people so that they can get good jobs.

we know that people with a college degree have an unemployment rate of 7% compared to 17% who do not. why, then, would my colleagues suggest cutting mandatory higher ed funding by $161 billion over ten years and why would they eliminate $89 billion in pell grants that congress, quite frankly, has already enacted and paid for which will allow low income students access to a college education? we already know that there are major gaps in skills and access to opportunities among students from different backgrounds in our country. it has left high tech companies with dismal numbers of women and people of color among their ranks. yet nevertheless, this budget with an unspecified long-term cut to non-defense spendsing would threaten our critical job training programs ultimately leading to a lower skilled and even lower-paid work force. at the same time, this budget foolishly cuts investments in

scientific research and development. our nation can't compete globally if we cut these vital investments that supports innovation and science. now i want to yield 2.25 minutes to my colleague mr. moulton. >> i'd like to thank my colleague from california for the time to discuss how the republican proposal before us today fails to make the appropriate and necessary investments in innovation and infrastructure needed to strengthen our economy and ensure that america has an edge over our global competitors. with the highway trust fund racing insolvency, now is the time to reinvest in our nation's transportation and infrastructure systems. the republican proposal to create a deficit-neutral reserve fund place holder for "innovative thinking" does nothing to address the immediate need to fix our broken roads bridges, and transit systems. rather, it sets congress up to face yet another manufactured crisis down the road.

under federal law, the highway trust fund cannot run a negative balance. improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency and reduced driving by commuters who choose to take public transit have substantially decreased the amount of gas tax revenue. we need to find a solution to this deficit. the president's proposal, which would impose a one time 14% transition tax on untaxed offshore earnings held by u.s. companies would add $238 billion in transitional revenue. these major corporations headquartered here at home use our roads and transit, they ought to pay into the system that enables them to make their profits. research has shown that infrastructure investments create strong middle-class jobs while funding cuts increase unemployment, particularly in the construction sector. for every $1 billion we invest in infrastructure projects we create between 10,000 and 15,000 jobs. the republican budget also makes deep undistributed cuts over the next decade to non-defense

discretionary spinding that would hit investments that accelerate innovation through cuts to vocational school programs. across the country, technical and vocational schools are training the next generation to fill manufacturing and industrial jobs that will increase our competitive edge and provide hard-working families with more opportunities to succeed. currently, many of these school cannot expand their classes due toable if constraints. additional cuts will marginalize them further. the republican budget before us today fails to set our nation on the right path towards economic growth. this alternative lacks decisive action to address our crumbling infrastructure and would lead to cuts in programs that prepare the next generation to join our work force. i thank my colleague for the time. i yield back. >> five minutes to mr. mcdermott to talk about the medicare and other impacts of this budget. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

i really don't know where to start. i've been on this committee for about 15 years over the last time i've been in congress and i'm sorry to tell the chairman, this bill is doa, it's dead on arrival. now, i'd like unanimous consent to enter into the record several articles in the paper. today the "new york times" says "house budget disaster." that's their title in the op-ed. the "washington post" says "gop fiscal phonies." the "washington post" main editorialist dana milbank says "the house gop budget is a gimmick." politico says "republicans try end around spending caps." and then we come to the senate. senate gop blasts house plan for their way to boost the budget for defense. now, this budget is a compilation of every tired idea we've heard talked about and we are not going to watch the republican party roll around in the street trying to make sense out of this.

the fact is, the republicans in the senate aren't going to go for it for one simple reason -- it repeals aca and this will be the 50 -- i don't know, 56th or 57th time you tried that. but the budget is really out of step with reality by repealing that because so many people, 16.4 million people, are receiving health care benefits today that were not before the aca. the level of uninsured in this country is the lowest point it's been in many, many, many years. and this allout assault on medicare is -- it's been going on since i came here with gingrich. gingrich said "we want this thicke thing to whither on the vine." well, here we are one more time. but the real trick here and i