Friday, March 30, 2007
Rep. Becerra Votes for Fiscally Responsible House Budget
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, March 29, the House of Representatives passed H.Con.Res 99, the federal budget resolution for fiscal year 2008, by a vote of 216 to 210. Assistant to the Speaker Xavier Becerra (CA-31), the only member of Congress from Southern California on the Ways and Means Committee, and a member of the Budget Committee, voted for the resolution.
Speaking on the House floor Wednesday, March 28, Rep. Becerra lauded the budget resolution for prioritizing the interests of middle class Americans with investments in education and healthcare, while reducing taxes and achieving a balanced budget by 2012. Below are highlights from Rep. Becerra's floor speech.
ON DEMOCRATRIC LEADERSHIP:
"As we discuss here what we are going to do in this Democratic budget resolution, I think the first thing we have to remember is we are going to pass a Democratic budget resolution. Last year, the Republican majority did not pass a budget resolution so we had no guidepost, no blueprint to tell us how the Congress would spend its money. And does it surprise anyone to know that we went further into debt?"
ON MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUTS:
"What happens here is if you continue to extend the Republican tax cuts, you are going to help those that make over $1 million. The Alternative Minimum Tax is going to hit folks that are making less than $200,000 the most, the folks that were not helped by the Bush tax cuts. That is where we want to concentrate our tax cuts, right here, to help Middle America."
ON FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY:
"The real distinction comes here. Our tax cuts will be targeted toward the middle class, not toward the wealthiest. And, at the same time, we have priorities. We are going to balance this budget. We have committed to our PAYGO policies that we will pay for whatever we propose. But, at the same time, we are going to try to make sure that interest payments on the national debt don't consume everything, because today this is what happens when you do deficit spending."
The budget resolution fixes the tax code for middle-income Americans by reforming the Alternative Minimum Tax, providing 23 million Americans with tax relief. Additionally, the budget includes a $50 billion initiative to provide health insurance to all of America's children, and boosts funding for education programs by $7.9 billion above what was proposed in the president's budget. A $153 billion surplus is forecasted in the House budget by fiscal year 2012.
