http://www.speaker.gov/journal/051118_hr4241.shtmlHouse Happenings for This Week
posted by Denny Hastert @ 11:33am (11/18/05) | Section: Hastert’s Comments
I hope everyone is well. It’s been a busy week and a long night. We stayed up and passed a bill that’s going to go a long way towards restraining spending and reducing the deficit. I’m proud that we got it done.
I had all these great prepared remarks for the debate but then I heard the Democratic Leader get up there and completely misrepresent the situation. Let me tell you, it was frustrating. I mean, the reason the economy is standing on its feet now is because of Republican policies. We were in a recession under President Clinton – the bubble was bursting. And then 9-11 came and just hit our economy hard. Republicans instituted pro-growth policies. Republicans did it. And look at the economy now – we are reducing the deficit. Homeownership is up. People have jobs. Unemployment is at like 5 percent right now.
So when the members on the other side of the aisle get up and misrepresent, it’s just wrong. And that gets me going.
They complained about the legislation we passed last night because they don’t want to do anything. But here’s the way I see it, the American people have trusted us to do the right thing. Americans are working too hard to have us up here playing with the money and writing blank checks.
This bill – the Deficit Reduction Act – puts us closer to a more efficient, smarter government. That’s what the people want.
Let me give you an example. On Medicaid, the governors – and I’m talking about Republicans and Democrats – have been begging for some market based reforms. These are the folks out in the states – they see the problem up close. And they’re paying 43 percent of Medicaid’s cost. In this bill, we give them the reforms they’ve been wanting. We’re going to allow a demonstration project so that states can offer health savings accounts for Medicaid benefits. It’s something the governors have wanted and it’s in this bill.
The Democrats keep saying we’re “slashing” and “cutting” programs such as Medicaid. If the Democrats would just be honest with everybody, they would be taken more seriously. We are going to pair back the growth rate in Medicaid from 7.3 percent to 7 percent – that’s not even a full percent! And we’re making some needed reforms like the program I just mentioned. We’re making a program better that the Democrats have just sat and watched get bigger and bigger. The Democrats have done nothing – even as Republican and Democrat governors have been begging for reforms!
Like I said, these are commonsense reforms in the bill. But it’s going to make government better and allow states to run better. You know, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have taken to saying lately ‘we can do better.’ Well, I say let the states do better. They don’t want dictates from Washington. But that’s all the other side wants to do: raise taxes, spend and send orders down to the states. And we all know a tax increase has never created a job – not one.
Let me tell you something else this bill does – it finds $50 billion dollars in savings. It’s going to keep our economic engine roaring. It’s restraining spending. That’s what we need. We don’t write blank checks for our home budgets; we shouldn’t do it with taxpayer money either.
This vote was really about letting members put the money where their mouth is. And now we know where the other side stands. And it’s not on the side of the American people.
You know they seem to have made an agenda out of misrepresentations. Yesterday, I was watching tv and saw (Rep.) John Murtha up there talking about Iraq. He called the Iraq policy an illusion. Now don’t get me wrong, I have respect for John Murtha and his service to our country but that was the biggest show I’ve seen on television in a long time. And I don’t think it was an accident that it was done while the President was out of the country. Our President was on foreign soil and the Democrats were up there criticizing him on the War!
I’m saddened because the Democrats seem to have adopted politics over policy and decided that it’s best to just cut and run from the War on Terror. I don’t see how they can do that because we all saw the devastation of September 11th. The terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people killed on U.S. soil in 45 minutes! And Democrats say it’s time to come home, wave the white flag to the terrorists, give up. We need to be strong and consistent for our men and women serving overseas. They’re protecting us from terrorists.
So I guess on the War on Terror and the budget – all the things important to Americans – the other side wants to debate politics over real policy. It’s sad. But it lets me know the point we’ve come to.
Our Republican members have been meeting and we’re united on this: we want to do right by the American people. We’re not just spouting off this political rhetoric mumbo jumbo. That’s the difference.
Okay, until next time. This is Denny.
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