David Price

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. speaker, one of my first experiences in this body in 1987 came when we were voting on the floor on four competing budget resolutions, including one offered by the majority party, as is always done, at least until this year. I remember at the end of the day it struck me that 140 Members of this body had voted ``no'' on all four resolutions, in the spirit of a comment made by the then-minority whip, Mr. Lott, who said, ``You do not ever get into trouble for those budgets which you vote against.'' I am sure Members in this body also remember 1993, when we passed a 5-year budget plan that has since reduced the deficit by $700 billion. Yet we barely passed that plan, by only one vote in both Houses. It is easiest to vote ``no,'' and it is hard to produce a budget, but it is our obligation to produce a budget. Particularly, it is the obligation of the majority party to deliver what every majority party has delivered in the past: A budget proposal which then serves as a blueprint for subsequent congressional action. The majority apparently does not want to put its fingerprints on any budgetary unpleasantness, so they are trying to shift the blame onto the President. But the President has already produced a budget. No one is claiming that it is perfect, but our Republican friends are exaggerating the difference between CBO and OMB projections as a diversionary tactic, trying to divert attention from their own failure to do the tough work of writing and passing a budget resolution. If they do not like the President's budget they can produce a different budget, but it is the Republican majority's turn to put its own budget on the table so we can move forward to confront the country's challenges. Surely we do not want to repeat the scenario of deadlock and Government shutdown. Time is almost up. The statutory deadline is April 15. Only 9 legislative days remain to pass a budget resolution. The majority party is way overdue in putting their own budget on the table, a budget proposal which we could be debating today rather than this irrelevant and diversionary resolution. Let us get the budget process back on track. Defeat this resolution and bring a budget resolution to the floor, as the majority party has always done and is still obligated to do.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, this vote presents us with three choices: We can choose between improving and worsening women's health; we can choose between increasing and decreasing child mortality; and we can choose between preventing and causing more abortions. International family planning programs provide the only medical care many women around the world ever receive. This year those services will help prevent the deaths of as many as 8,000 mothers who die because of the complications in their pregnancies or in childbirth. Family planning services provide health care for children which dramatically increases the chances children will grow up healthy. Having children about 2 years apart in birth date can increase the survival rate by nearly 30 percent. Finally, preventing abortions. With U.S. funding, family planning programs could prevent as many as 4 million unplanned pregnancies this year, which could prevent up to 1.6 million abortions resulting from those pregnancies. Recent studies clearly link providing family planning services and declining abortion rates in Mexico, Colombia, Hungary, Russia, the Central Asian republics. Our job today is to sort through the information and the misinformation and all the ideological pressures surrounding this issue, and to do what we were elected to do, to do the right thing. With this vote we can improve women's health, we can improve children's lives, and we can reduce the number of abortions. Mr. Chairman, there are not too many votes of which we can say that. This is clearly a vote of principle. We must do the right thing. Vote to release the family planning funds.

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing the Education Affordability Act, together with my North Carolina colleague and fellow educator Bob Etheridge. This legislation is designed to make education more accessible and affordable for working Americans and to give our young people the training that most new, good jobs require. Our bill would restore the tax deduction for student loan interest and the full tax exemption for scholarships and fellowships. In addition, it would permit penalty free, withdrawals from individual retirement accounts to pay for higher education expenses. In the last decade, the number of American students borrowing money for higher education has doubled. The average cost of attendance at a public college has increased 27 percent over the past decade while the cost of private college has increased over 40 percent. It is not unusual today for a working family to spend over 25 percent of their income helping their child through college. Many of this Nation's talented young people--young people who are the future of this country--are unable to attend college because of the financial hardship. Our legislation would take significant steps toward removing some of these barriers to higher education. First, it would restore the pre- 1986 tax laws governing student loans. Instead of penalizing young people who are gifted and fortunate enough to earn scholarships and fellowships by taxing this money, our bill would make these resources tax exempt. Students and their families who need to borrow to pay the costs of education would be able to deduct the interest on their loans. Finally, this bill would eliminate the 10-percent penalty on withdrawals from IRA's for higher education expenses, allowing students additional access to resources for their education. Accessible and affordable higher education is essential to this Nation's ability to compete in the global market. In order to remain at the forefront of this growing worldwide economy, we need to ensure that our children have access to affordable education beyond high school. Passage of this bill would help to bring higher education opportunities to every interested individual. It is an investment in the future of our young people and our country. I urge my colleagues to join us by cosponsoring the Education Affordability Act.