Tax and Appropriations

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) released the following statement this evening after the Democratic Caucus united in voting against the Republican Budget Resolution for FY05 and for the Democrats’ budget alternative:

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) today spoke on the House Floor in opposition to the fiscal year 2005 House Republican budget, and in support of the House Democratic budget, which would balance the budget in 8 years and invest in America’s priorities.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) and Democratic leaders on defense and security issues, including Armed Services Ranking Democrat Ike Skelton (MO), House Budget Committee Ranking Democrat John Spratt (SC), Homeland Security Committee Ranking Democrat Jim Turner (TX), and Rep. Ben Chandler (KY) this morning praised the House Democratic Budget alternative. The Democratic Budget alternative matches the House Republican budget on defense and provides more funding for homeland security than the Republican budget.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today vowing to fight for pay parity for federal civilian employees and military employees in Fiscal Year 2005 after an amendment to add language in support of the bipartisan principle failed in committee:

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and the Blue Dog Coalition inflated a giant red balloon today as a symbol of the ballooning Bush Debt. The Democrats also denounced the Republican leadership’s and Administration’s “hot air” on their ineffective “pay-as-you-go” (PAYGO) budget mechanism that only applies to spending and not to tax cuts.

As House Republicans work to build support for the fiscal 2005 budget, Democrats head into this week’s vote confident that their own Members will unanimously oppose the GOP bill.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) challenged Republicans this week to offer a budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2005 that reins in record budget deficits – rather than pretending to do so – and that meets America’s priorities. The following is Rep. Hoyer’s statement:

House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement regarding the fiscal year 2005 House Republican Budget: