Paul Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Chair, I will yield myself 2 minutes. The only thing that's on the ascent in this budget is the national debt, the budgets of our government agencies, the tax burden on the American people, the deficits. Because after you lower the deficit a little bit, it goes right back up. You know what is ascending in this budget is the fact that the national debt goes to double of what it is today in 5\1/2\, triples in 10\1/2\ years. That's what's on the ascent. Madam Chair, I appreciate the gentleman who just spoke. We're good friends. And he is an honorable man. We just have honorable disagreements. The chairman and I have a lot of respect for one another. We're friends. We have honest disagreements. I wish we would have more debate about this because we are really, truly debating the fiscal future of this Nation right here. I asked for this unanimous consent to have what we call ``reconciliation'' taken out of the bill. What that means is they are setting up a procedural device so that they can bring through nationalizing our health care system, a brand new energy tax on top of all our energy, the largest tax increase in American history, the biggest debt increase ever. They can bring this thing through here in just a few hours of debate in the people's House, no more than 20 hours of debate in the other Chamber, with no amendments. They can get this agenda passed so fast with this procedural stunt that the American people won't know what hit them. I just have to ask a question. You know, should we be giving any government agency a 200 percent increase in their budget this year? The Education Department is great. It's education. Six cents on the dollar on education spending which, by the way, comes from the Federal Government. All the rest is State and local government. Name me a family in America that just got a 196 percent increase in their family budget. We just gave that to the Department of Education. This budget says: Let's give them another 13 percent increase. In February, we passed a bill giving the Environmental Protection Agency a 92 percent increase in their budget this year. This bill says that wasn't enough.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Chair, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. At this time, Madam Chair, I'd like to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I give the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I yield myself an additional 30 seconds. This bill says that wasn't enough. Let's give them another 35 percent. The problem is this: We're chasing ever-higher spending with ever-higher taxes, and the taxes never catch up with the spending. So the debt we're increasing is the highest we've ever seen. It is just so reckless, so irresponsible. Madam Chair, at this time I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Kansas (Ms. Jenkins).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Might I ask for a unanimous consent agreement then, just to make sure we're sure about this--to play it doubly safe-- I would like to ask unanimous consent to remove the Commerce Committee reconciliation instructions out of this bill to make sure that that doesn't occur.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I will simply say: Let's put the MIT study aside for a moment and look at the Congressional Budget Office. The Congressional Budget Office is saying it's going to hit families an average of $1,600 a year. That's still a lot. It's more than the Making Work Pay tax credit. But I think it's also fairly revealing that since the chairman's mark takes away the Making Work Pay tax credit, the only way to get it back is impose a cap-and-trade regime to get those revenues. Even the Congressional Budget Office says the tax increase on families buying energy will far exceed the amount of the Make Work Pay tax credit. No matter how you slice it, no matter how you dice it, people are going to get an energy tax increase if you pass that bill.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I can't speak for her. Let me ask the gentleman this. It's my understanding that that MIT study comes up with these calculations based on the fact that people are getting rebates to offset the higher energy costs. I think that's right.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I can't answer the question because the gentlelady said it. But here's the interesting point. Since you just acknowledged that that study rests upon the fact of having rebates go back to taxpayers, then why is it that this budget you're bringing to the floor repeals the rebates? This budget says the Making Work Pay tax credit goes away.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Chair, I will yield myself 5 minutes at this time. Madam Chair, I just heard one of my colleagues say the cap-and-trade proposal is not in this budget. Let me show you the stalking horse that's in this budget. Page 30 on the chairman's mark, it says in their reserve fund on increasing energy independence, we can have legislation that provides for and limits reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Now, we just heard Mr. Blumenauer out on the floor a little while ago saying, ``Cap-and-trade. That's what cap-and-trade is. Our proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is cap-and-trade.'' Now, it might not say cap-and-trade here, but you're saying we're going to achieve what cap-and-trade is. One more point. You reconcile the Energy and Commerce Committee. What does that mean for people who don't know what reconciliation means? It means they're telling the Energy and Commerce Committee you can do whatever you want within your jurisdiction, $1 billion of savings. So you can have a $1.3 trillion cap-and-trade tax increase, and then have a $1.2999 trillion spending program out of it, and you satisfy your reconciliation instructions. I heard somebody say, you know, the debt goes up under all these budgets. That is true. I've got news for everybody. The national debt is going to increase. It's going to go up under anybody's budget, under any conceivable scenario. You know why? The baby boomers are retiring. We've got 40 million people who are going from paying taxes into the programs who are going to retire and collect money from these benefits. So the debt's going up, no two ways about that. The question is, what are we doing about it? Do we have a really bad fiscal situation right now? Have we inherited a mess? Yes. The question is, what are we doing to clean up this mess? Are we making it better or are we making it worse? I would suggest that the budget that is here before the floor makes it so much worse. We have a plan that we will talk about later that gets our debt and our borrowing under control. This is a budget that sends our budget deficit and debt out of control, doubling it in 5\1/2\ years, tripling it in a little over 10. More money going out the door in borrowing, raising the national debt under this Presidency than under all prior presidencies combined. So let's see if we're really being fiscally conservative here. Let's review the budget of our Federal agencies. The annual average increases in government agencies over the last 8 years, under a Republican President, Democrat and Republican Congress: legislative branch got an annual increase of 6.1 percent; the judiciary, an annual increase of 5.9 percent; education, an annual increase of 10.2 percent; Health and Human Services, annual increase of 7.7 percent; Justice, annual increase of 7.0 percent; Labor, annual increase of 9.1 percent; State Department, an annual increase of 11.9 percent; Transportation Department, annual increase of 6.5 percent. Let's go to the executive office of the President. We had some problems there with Katrina, 87.3 percent annual increase. Total outlays of our government, from our government agencies over the last 8 years: an annual increase of 6.4 percent. So what's Congress doing this session? Are we being fiscally conservative? Are we being frugal? Are we watching taxpayer dollars? Look at the family budget. Do you think the family budget is going up an average of 6.4 percent a year? Inflation's not even 1 percent. Do you think State and local governments are going up that fast? Let's look at what we just passed a month ago. An increase in this year's budget from the stimulus, the Education Department, get this, an increase of 196 percent, and this budget says let's throw on top of that a 13 percent increase. HUD, an increase of 34 percent this year. What's going on top of that in this budget? Another 18 percent increase in their budget. Labor Department, an increase this year, 38 percent in their budget. What does this do? Another 5 percent on top. State Department, $600 million increase in stimulus. What are they saying in this budget? Let's increase the State Department by 41 percent. The Environmental Protection Agency, good agency, they do smart, important things. In the stimulus bill this year, they got a 92 percent increase in their budget. What does this budget bill propose? Let's give them another 35 percent increase this year in their budget. Madam Chair, this is reckless. This is reckless spending. Name me a family in Janesville, Wisconsin, that's going to get a 92 percent increase in their family budget. Name me a local government in your communities that's going to get a 196 percent increase in their budget this year. We are spending like drunken sailors--wait, I apologize to the drunken sailors of America for that comment. This is reckless. This is why this budget doubles our national debt in five-and-a-half years and triples it in 10 years. Madam Chair, at this moment, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. At this moment, Madam Chair, I'd like to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence), the House Republican Conference chairman. (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. At this time, I'd like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence), our House Republican Conference Chair. (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Chair, at this time I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia, Dr. Broun. announcement by the chair

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. May I inquire, Madam Chair, as to how much time is remaining, because it's my understanding that we're in possession of a 10-minute block at this moment.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I'd be happy to step in for the gentleman if the chairman wants to yield me the 30 seconds from his time to explain how you're not cutting taxes by $2 trillion. I'd be happy to explain that.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. If the gentleman will yield, that means if you don't think putting the alternative minimum tax on $26 million households isn't a tax increase, then maybe you're right. If you don't think raising the dividends tax by 100 percent, the capital gains tax by 33 percent, and income tax rates across the board is not a tax increase, then by your definition that might be a tax cut. What you're doing is you're playing baseline mumbo jumbo. You're saying we're going to assume all these massive tax increases in America. Oh, and ours are going to be a little lower than that, but they're still going to be up, and it's a tax cut. That's baseline mumbo jumbo. The point is this--the budget you're bringing to the floor raises taxes.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Thank you for the 30 seconds.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. May I ask the gentleman a question?

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I will yield myself 1 minute to explain. On January 1, 2011, income tax rates go up. That's a tax increase. On January 1, 2011, the capital gains tax goes up. That's a tax increase. On January 1, 2011, dividend taxes go up. That's a tax increase. On January 1, 2010, the alternative minimum tax hits 26 million taxpayers who weren't hit by it before in their budget. That's a tax increase. You can't hide it. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's a duck. At this time I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. At this time, I yield 2 minutes to a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. At this time I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte). (Mr. GOODLATTE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. At this time, Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole).