Maloney Floor Statement on Budget Reconciliation (S. 1932)

This administration, in concert with this Congress under this leadership, has given us five years of record debt and deficits. It seems that with each new month comes a new dubious record – just last week we learned that the trade deficit for October hit another all-time high.

This reckless fiscal policy has come on the heels of the thriving economy of the 1990s, when we showed that government can be fiscally disciplined and compassionate to our neighbors most in need at the same time.

That time and that economic philosophy is a distant memory, having given way to misguided priorities. Now, instead of fundamentally changing the economic approach that turned record surpluses into record deficits and that has floated us down a river of red ink, we have the bill that is before us. It gives no real help to our debt and deficits, and it targets programs that need help the most.

By cutting less than one half of one percent of the projected $14.3 trillion in federal spending over the next five years, we are not returning to fiscal sanity, as supporters of this bill claim.

And despite what some on the other side of the aisle might think, slashing programs that help low-income Americans and our seniors stay healthy and help our young go to college is not sound policy. A $12.7 billion cut to student loans will not help educate Americans. A $6.9 billion cut in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program will not keep low-income Americans healthy. And a $6.4 billion cut in Medicare is not beneficial to the well-being of our nation’s seniors.

Instead, this bill shows a lack of compassion and a lack of vision for the long-term health and productivity of our nation. It would be more beneficial if we returned to the sound, balanced-budget vision that guided us through the prosperous 90s.

I urge my colleagues to vote “no” on this uncompassionate bill and to instead focus on a revision of our economic direction.

###