Hoyer Remarks on Bipartisan Budget Agreement

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor today on the bipartisan budget agreement. Below is a transcript of his remarks and a link to the video:

Click here to watch the video. 

“I thank the gentlelady, and I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding.  And I thank him for his outstanding leadership as Ranking Member of the Budget Committee on fiscal stability, fiscal responsibility, and his willingness to lead in ensuring that America invests in its future. And I thank the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. I think I quote the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee as much as I quote any other member. ‘Unrealistic and ill-advised,’ those two words of his relating to the sequester are emblazoned on my front lobe, and I thank him for that statement.

“Madam Speaker, this agreement represents a bipartisan effort to prevent a catastrophic default and lessen the chance of a government shutdown in December.  Lessens the chance – it doesn't preclude it. It shows what is possible when Democrats and Republicans work together to get something done in a bipartisan way. This has been a pretty unique week. Ex-Im Bank passed with the majority of Republicans, a majority – overwhelmingly, all but one Democrat. This is going to pass, in my view, with overwhelming numbers of Republicans and overwhelming numbers of Democrats voting for it. That's what Americans want.  That’s what they expect. They want us to work together – not always agree with one another, but to work together.

“This bill replaces the sequester, that ill-advised policy that is hurting our country. It replaces it for two years and does so with parity for defense and non-defense sequester relief. It protects Medicare Part B beneficiaries from seeing higher premiums, and it saves the Social Security Disability Insurance Program from insolvency. All of those are worthwhile objectives.

“This legislation will give us a chance to work on a long-term solution to our fiscal challenges over the next two years. This agreement, like Ryan-Murray, is a short-term agreement. And the end of it comes sooner than we expect.  Congress ought not to wait until this agreement is about to expire, two years from now, to act. We should get to work right now on a big, bipartisan deal to put America's fiscal house back in order and enable our nation to afford investments in a stronger economic future.

“Americans are not looking for a rickety bridge to 2017 but a sturdy one that can carry us into a stronger economic future. Businesses across the country are clamoring for long-term certainty for Congress to find a way to replace the sequester and remove the uncertainty that it has created and continues to create.  So I hope, Madam Speaker, the history that is written about this legislation is that it was a bipartisan first step toward securing the kind of long-term agreement all of us know we must achieve.

“I had the opportunity to serve with Mr. Rogers for a couple of decades on the Appropriations Committee.  He and I have served in this Congress together for a long period of time.  He is a responsible leader in the Congress of the United States.  And I quote him because his perspective and mine are the same, although we differ on many issues – and it is that we owe it to the American people, we owe it to America, and we owe it to future generations to create the fiscal stability that will allow the Appropriations Committee, very frankly, to again become the center of decision-making, which it was for many of the years that I served on it.  Too often now we ignore the Appropriations Committee, whose job is to set priorities and to apply the resources of our country to those priority items. If we don't adhere to that process, that will not happen.

“So, Madam Speaker, in closing – and thank you for your tolerance – we need to get a long-term fiscal resolution. This is a short-term. I will support it. It's good for the country. But we need a long-term solution, and I thank the Chairman, and I thank the Ranking Member, Mr. Van Hollen, my friend, who has done such a terrific job, and I yield back the balance of my time.”