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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia: Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule because it makes in order the Congressional Black Caucus alternative. The Congressional Black Caucus budget offers this Congress and the American people the choice between fiscal and moral responsibility and tax cuts for the wealthy. Under the stewardship of the Congressional Black Caucus alternative, the Federal budget returns to balance, as this chart show, in the fourth year and the fifth year. The President's budget is in red, in deficit, all the way through. It even returns to deficit in the fifth year.
If compared to the President's budget, we save $564 billion better on the bottom line. In fact, we save so much that we save $48 billion in interest compared to the President's budget. At the same time, we provide significant funding for essential priorities, for example, education, health care, veterans, justice programs, all much better funded under the Congressional Black Caucus budget than the President's budget.
Mr. Speaker, we have heard that we do this by canceling the tax cuts that got us in the fiscal mess that we are in today, except for those tax cuts that primarily affect that portion of your income under $200,000. Now, canceling those tax cuts has been called the greatest tax increase or whatever they want to call it. Mr. Speaker, all we are doing is canceling the tax cuts that got us in the ditch. When these tax cuts first passed, we had a projected surplus of $5.5 trillion for a 10-year budget. Those 10 years look like they are going to come in at a $3 trillion deficit.
We haven't created jobs at the same time. We have a choice. We can have fiscal responsibility and address our important needs, or we can fund those tax cuts for the wealthy. The Congressional Black Caucus chooses fiscal responsibility and a morally supportable budget addressing our priorities. And therefore, I support the rule that makes the Congressional Black Caucus budget in order.
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