Supporting the mission and goals of 2009 National Crime Victims' Rights week to increase public awareness of the rights, needs, and concerns of victims and survivors of crime in the United States, and to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleague and friend Mr. Costa from California as an original sponsor of this resolution to recognize and support the mission and goals of National Crime Victims' Rights Week. Together, Mr. Costa and myself chair the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus. The caucus is comprised of Members from both sides of the aisle who are dedicated to protecting the interests and needs of crime victims throughout our country. Crime victim issues are not partisan. They are nonpartisan issues, Mr. Speaker, and affect everyone in this country.

In 1980, President Ronald Reagan first called for a national observance to recognize and honor the millions of crime victims and those survivors in this country. Since then, Victims' Rights Week has been proclaimed annually with ceremonies and observances here in Washington, D.C. and thousands of communities throughout the Nation.

Each April, the Office for Victims of Crime, called the OVC, organizes a weeklong series of activities and rallies to increase public awareness of the rights, the needs and concerns of crime victims in the United States. The theme of this year's National Crime Victims' Rights Week is ``25 Years of Rebuilding Lives: Celebrating the Victims of Crime Act.''

In 1984, the Victims of Crime Act, called VOCA, created the VOCA fund, a Federal victims compensation account funded by fines assessed in Federal criminal convictions. This is a collection of criminal fines, not taxpayer dollars.

The way it works, Mr. Speaker, criminals convicted in Federal Court contribute into a fund, as I say paying for the crimes they have committed, paying rent on the courthouse, and that fund is used exclusively for victims and victims' services throughout the United States. It is not a taxpayer-funded fund; it is a fund solely funded by criminals. What a novel idea: Make criminals pay to the victims of crime, victims that many of them have caused to be victims in the first place.

Also the Victims of Crime Act establishes the Office for Victims of Crime to distribute those funds throughout the United States. In fact, with the help of the OVC, there are now 10,000 victim assistance programs providing emotional, financial, physical and spiritual support every day. All of these organizations owe to some extent their existence because of the VOCA funds that were established by Congress many years ago.

VOCA is the only Federal fund that caters to the needs of victims. Each year, about 4,400 agencies and almost 3.5 million victims receive support and financial compensation from this fund funded by criminals. Just to clarify, this money that is collected is used to help victims and their families.

This year, during National Crime Victims' Rights Week, we celebrate that the VOCA fund has been assisting victims for over 25 years and has distributed literally billions of dollars since its inception. Currently there are $6.5 billion in this fund, funds that will be given to victims and victims services. It is important that we as Members of Congress make sure that the bureaucrats, however, don't see this fund and take the fund and use it for other services in the United States that have nothing to do with victims.

While the events of this week provide excellent opportunities to focus on victims' rights, this issue requires attention by Members of Congress so that the VOCA fund is not taken by the bureaucrats and used for other purposes.

Last month, four police officers in Oakland, California, Dan Sakai, 35, Mark Dunakin, 40, John Hege, 41, and Ervin Romans, 43, were shot to death by a 27-year-old parolee. Earlier this month, an armed man walked into a New York Immigration and Naturalization service center and shot 17 people, killing 13 and wounding four others.

The National Center For Victims of Crime reports that during 2008 a child was reported abused or neglected almost every 35 seconds. In my home State of Texas alone, there were more than 83,000 separate allegations of abuse or neglect confirmed by Child Protective Services.

Crime victims, Mr. Speaker, are not statistics. They are real men, women and children with families and loved ones, and those victims who manage to survive the acts of violence must not be excluded from the criminal justice system. Their voices must be heard, and in honor of every victim, we renew our commitment to protect the rights of crime victims and provide them effective assistance programs, and we also commend the countless professionals and volunteers who have dedicated literally their lives to help victims and survivors of crime.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman from Virginia for leading this resolution, but also I do want to thank my friend from California, Mr. Costa, for not only sponsoring this legislation, but for his hard work nationally on victims' rights and the movement. He literally started the victims' rights movement in California, the State that we owe a lot to for the victims' right movement when he was in the State legislature there in California, and he has brought his passion to help victims of crime to the United States Congress, and we are all better for that.

Last week in honor of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, the Victim's Rights Caucus, as Mr. Costa mentioned, had several preliminary events. One was the fourth annual Victim's Rights Caucus awards ceremony.

At the awards ceremony last Wednesday night, Mr. Costa and myself joined other Members of the House, Mr. Shadegg from Arizona, Mr. Yarmuth from Kentucky and Mr. Reichert from Washington in honoring six outstanding victim advocates and victim programs.

Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the names and the awards of these six recipients.

2009 Victims' Rights Caucus Awards Recipients

(1) Suzanne McDaniel Public Awareness Award--Katherine

Cabaniss. Ms. Cabaniss is the Executive Director of Houston

Crime Stoppers. As a former Assistant District Attorney, she

has a passion for preventing and fighting crime. During her

time with Crime Stoppers, Ms. Cabaniss has built strategic

alliances with people and organizations who assist victims of

crime, including local school districts, apartment property

management companies, and women's shelters. She has

strengthened Crime Stoppers relationship with the media, and

in doing so, has used her voice to promote safe communities

and justice for victims of crime. Cabaniss was nominated by

Representative Ted Poe (TX-02).

(2) Ed Stout Memorial Award for Outstanding Victim

Advocacy--Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual

Assault. The Alliance represents everything that Mr. Stout

worked so hard for during his work on behalf of crime victims

and survivors. They are a nonprofit, grassroots organization

that since 1979 has provided support and services to victims

of domestic violence and sexual assault in Kern County and

the surrounding area. These services are free, and are

bilingual, which serves Kern County's diverse ethnic

background. Their strong focus on assisting victims of

violence against women in rural areas is remarkable. The

Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault was

nominated by Representative Jim Costa (CA-20).

(3) Ed Stout Memorial Award for Outstanding Victim

Advocacy--Sheryl Cates. Ms. Cates has spent the last 25 years

advocating for victims of domestic violence at all levels. As

Executive Director at Women's Protective Services in Lubbock,

TX, Ms. Cates worked directly with victims as well as

supervising staff who provide services to victims. Also, as

CEO of the Texas council on Family Violence, National

Domestic Violence Hotline and loveisrespect.org National Teen

Dating Abuse Helpline, Ms. Cates is recognized nationally as

an expert in the field of domestic violence and as someone

who can be counted on to participate in any efforts to

support the needs of victims and their families. Cates was

nominated by Representative Lamar Smith (TX-21)

(4) Lois Haight Award of Excellence and Innovation--Steve

Twist. Mr. Twist has worked tirelessly to ensure that every

jurisdiction in America provides victims with rights in the

criminal justice system and that those rights are enforceable

by the individual victim. He has worked as counsel to the

Navajo Nation, aiding in the drafting of various victim

provisions, and is the principal author of the Arizona

constitutional amendment for victims' rights and the Arizona

Victims' Rights Implementation Act, which together are the

strongest victims' rights legal provisions in the country.

Mr. Twist was nominated by Representative John Shadegg (AZ-

03)

(5) Eva Murillo Unsung Hero Award--Jenny Wieland Ms.

Wieland's 17 year old daughter and only child was murdered by

another teen in 1992. She turned her pain into purpose and

has worked tirelessly to reduce youth violence, in hopes that

other mothers

would not have to experience the loss of a child to a violent

crime. In 1994, Jenny Wieland became a founding board member

of Mothers Against Violence in America (MAVIA). In early

1995, she left a career as an insurance broker to become

MAVIA's Program Director and first employee. During her

seven-year tenure with MAVIA, she helped create and implement

MAVIA's many national and local programs, including the

acclaimed Washington State model of Day of National Concern

About Young People and Gun Violence, which encourages young

Americans in classrooms and communities across the country to

sign the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence. Currently,

Wieland is serving as Executive Director of Families and

Friends of Violent Crime Victims in Washington State. Wieland

was nominated by Representative Dave Reichert (WA-08)

(6) Allied Profession Award--Michael Davis, President of

Appriss, Inc. Mr. Davis is the cofounder and president of

Appriss, the provider of local, state and federal automated

victim information and notification services and automated

victim protection order services. In 1994, Mary Byron was

murdered on her 21st birthday by her former boyfriend who was

in jail in Louisville, Kentucky. Mary and her parents asked

to be notified if and when he was released, which did not

happen. In response to this preventable tragedy, Davis and

his partner created VINE' (Victim Information and

Notification Everyday), which provides confidential, around-

the-clock notifications to victims about the status of their

offenders. VINE keeps crime victims and survivors informed

and involved in their cases, in turn promoting personal and

community safety. Today, Appriss provides VINE and related

services to more than 75% of our nation. States participating

in the Statewide Automated Victim Information and

Notification (SAVIN) grant program have entrusted Appriss as

their technology provider. Davis was nominated by

Representative John Yarmuth (KY-03).

Mr. Speaker, it is because of the pioneering efforts of many, including President Reagan and his 1982 Task Force on Victims of Crime, that we are able to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Victims of Crime Act. We must remember that the same Constitution that protects the rights of offenders protects the rights of victims of crime in this country as well.

I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting in resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the chairman for yielding. I thank the ranking member for his views.

There is a disagreement, Madam Speaker. We have had a substantive disagreement for a long time. In fact, when I was elected to the Congress in 1981, we had a very substantive disagreement on what the economic policies would produce in terms of the supply-side economic theory. My view, which differs from Mr. Ryan's, is that it produced large deficits, and it produced large deficits in every year that it was practiced in the 29 years that I have been here. Only in the 8 years where President Clinton had the veto pen and said no, we're not going to go down that road, did we produce surpluses. Now, they were produced in large part because of an economy that rose more rapidly than any of us expected because of the chip, the information technology explosion, all of which was to the best interest of our country. We had a $5.6 trillion surplus projected in 2001 by President Bush as a result. Unfortunately, we pursued a policy with which I disagreed and which I said would produce high deficits and would not help our economy. In fact, we produced high deficits, and our economy was in the worst shape that any President has inherited an economy since Franklin Roosevelt. President Obama was confronted with an economy that was in substantial decline.

Today the House has the rare opportunity to set America on a responsible course for the future. I congratulate Mr. Spratt, I congratulate Mr. Boyd and Ms. DeLauro, members of the conference, for the courage and leadership they have displayed. Mr. Spratt has been, as always, extraordinarily informed and extraordinarily involved with all of our Members in trying to get to this point. The course that we set ourselves on, in my view, is one of lasting prosperity, and I urge my colleagues to seize this opportunity.

Along with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, this budget is a key part of our response to this recession. We have the power to emerge from this recession a stronger Nation, one with a future of clean energy and energy independence and a workforce ready to compete with the best in the world and a reformed system of health care. This budget provides for those objectives. We also have a chance to vote for the principles of fiscal responsibility and put ourselves on a truly sustainable course.

There is a real difference in this House, in the Senate, and in this country about what fiscal responsibility means. I believe it means we pay for what we buy rather than simply cutting our revenues, increasing our purchases, and hoping somehow something magical will happen to balance the budget. It has never happened in the 20 years that I have served with Republican Presidents pursuing that philosophy.

On energy, the budget funds incentives for cutting-edge research and clean energy jobs, as well as an energy-efficient, money-saving, critically necessary smart grid.

On education this budget builds upon the recovery plan with additional support for early childhood education, elementary and secondary school students, and efforts to help more Americans obtain a college degree. It expands access to education in the make-or-break years of early childhood--I think critical if we are going to be competitive in world markets. It increases Pell grants to help more students afford higher education and promotes job training and significant education reform.

On health care this budget responds to the skyrocketing costs that are straining families and businesses across this Nation. Family premiums have more than doubled since the year 2000, and over the past 5 years, our total health care spending has increased at more than twice the rate of inflation, consuming more and more of our economy and our budget each year. This budget fights that trend by making a significant down-payment on the reform, taking steps to lower health care costs, improve quality, and expand access. That is what America voted in 2008. That is the responsibility that we are carrying out.

The budget also allows us to use reconciliation to provide for an up- or-down vote on reforming health care, not as an option or first resort but as a fallback if partisanship blocks progress.

Essentially we're saying the majority will make policy. It didn't take 60 percent to elect the President. It didn't take 60 percent to elect any of us to this body. The premise of our Founding Fathers was if a majority of Americans believe we ought to move in a direction, that's the direction we ought to move. That has proved a very successful policy for over two centuries. It is a policy that we are providing for here. It is a policy that was provided for by the Republicans when they were in charge time after time after time.

As the bipartisan Concord Coalition points out: ``The budget reconciliation process was used in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2005 to reduce taxes,'' as opposed to deficit reduction, which, of course, reconciliation is designed to address.

Moreover, a case can be made that health care reform that includes spending restraints and squeezes inefficiencies out of the system is integral to reining in the rapid growth of health care costs, which is a major, a major driver of deficits.

I want to stress that last point. It is essential that health care reform includes difficult choices to cut costs, which will eventually result in lower deficits. Why? Because of the $2.4 trillion that we spend on health care, half of that comes from the government, either Federal or State.

All of these investments are vital to our future economic health and competitiveness. As President Obama recently pointed out: ``A cash- strapped family may cut back on all kinds of luxuries but will insist on spending money to get their children through college.''

Our country is in the same position. These tough times are no excuse to cut back on investments that will pay off many times over down the road.

Finally, this budget puts America back on the path of fiscal responsibility. It's no secret that past budgets have made easy choices and kicked the difficult ones down the road.

Let me say, as I have said so many times before, it takes no courage whatsoever to cut taxes. None. Zero. What takes courage, political courage, if we want to buy things, is to pay for them. That's what takes courage. You can make one of two decisions: Don't buy and keep revenue stable, or buy and pay for so that your children aren't paying for it. Those are the decisions that I am prepared to make and, very frankly, have made over the last 40 years that I have been in office.

This House needs to make those choices. That's why Allen Boyd, John Spratt and others have pursued so vigorously statutory PAYGO requirements. That's why I am in such support of them.

In 1990, statutory PAYGO led to that surplus that I referred to. Jettisoning that in the early part of this decade led to the deficits that we have experienced.

And why did you jettison PAYGO? Because you were unprepared to pay for the revenue losses that you voted for.

But by passing this budget we will be leaving a different legacy, one that makes clear that our government must pay for what it buys. This budget cuts the deficit from 10.5 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3 percent of GDP in 2013--in other words, by nearly two-thirds. Those savings come from spending restraint and oversight that save taxpayer money. We must do that. We cannot pursue the policies that we have been pursuing. They are not sustainable.

Most importantly, the House is strongly committed to statutory PAYGO. President Obama asked Congress, and again I quote, to develop a PAYGO law that would help return the Nation to a path of fiscal responsibility, and that is what we intend to do.

That is what this budget does. The House will not consider any bills on middle-income tax cuts, the estate tax, AMT relief, or the sustainable growth rate in the Medicare program unless they include statutory PAYGO, they are fully offset, or statutory PAYGO has already been enacted. Everybody wants to deal with those four issues. Let us see if everybody is prepared in this generation to pay for them and not pass those costs on to the next generation.

I urge my colleagues to approve this conference report, pass this budget and show our constituents that the priorities they voted for in 2008 are ours as well.

I again congratulate the chairman, the members of the conference committee and the members of the Budget Committee for their leadership and for their courage.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

It is indeed an honor to call Mr. Spratt ``colleague.'' We say that from time to time about our Members, but never is it truer than in the case of Chairman John Spratt of South Carolina. He is a gentleman who has brought the values of our country, the principles of our great democracy, to bear on writing a budget.

Because of his leadership, today, for the first time in many, many years, we have a President's budget on the floor that is a statement of our national values. What is important to us as a Nation is reflected in this budget. It is a very happy day for our country, Mr. Spratt, because of your leadership.

I thank all of the members of the Budget Committee for their hard work, expressing their views, coming forth with a budget that is a blueprint for the future. I also want to commend our conferees, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Congressman Boyd, for assisting you in the conference process.

Starting at the beginning of this year, this Congress passed a stimulus package to take our country in a new direction. Since that time, we have been on a sprint to create jobs, to lower the deficit, to cut taxes for the American people. This blueprint, this budget, is a bookend to that stimulus package. It is the foundation for how we go forward into the future.

In the first 100 days, it enables us to make the claim with these two pieces of legislation and bills that have come in between, for example, the SCHIP, children's health insurance, 11 million children in America; the public lands bill, the biggest conservation bill in many, many years; and other initiatives contained in our agenda in the past few months, enables us to say that more has been done in this period of time for health care than in decades, since Medicare was passed in this Congress and signed into law. More has been done on education than in generations, since the GI Bill was passed during World War II, and even more than that. And in terms of energy, there is absolutely no contest. It is far out there in terms of breaking ground and reducing our dependence on foreign oil, creating new green jobs for a green future for America's economy, for honoring our moral responsibility to protect God's beautiful creation, and to keeping our environment clean and healthy for our children. These three, education, health care and energy, are what the business community and other sectors of our community tell us are the investments that we must make in order to turn our economy around.

So here we are today with a budget before us that creates jobs, reduces taxes, and takes us over a path of lowering the deficit. It does so in the most

transparent way of any budget in our country's history, and certainly in this Congress' history. As it does so, as I say, it focuses on those three pillars of the Obama agenda: education, health care and energy.

In terms of energy, in the first 100 days an article in Fortune magazine of April 29 states that this is ``the greenest budget ever. Obama's $3.55 trillion budget proposal is a one-two punch for cleantech. It boosts funding for renewables while slashing tax breaks for fossil fuels. Obama's wish list,'' now, this is another organization called Climate Progress, ``Climate Progress called the Obama wish list `the first sustainable budget in U.S. history.' It includes $15 billion per year for cleantech over a decade,'' and it goes on.

This is in addition to the initiative that was passed earlier on in the recovery package known as the stimulus package. It is called ``greener stimulus.'' ``Signed in February, the stimulus package is chock-full of cleantech goodies with $43 billion for grants for clean power, extensions of tax credits for solar, wind, geothermal and energy efficiency programs, smart grid funding, weatherization programs and a new tax credit for cleantech hardware manufacturing.''

I mention that because we must see this budget in the context of the issues which we are trying to advance. Of themselves, they are worthy. They have their justification, as I mentioned in the case of energy. But they are also investments that will grow our economy and create jobs.

When it comes to health care, another pillar of the Obama budget, as the President says, health care reform is entitlement reform. As we go forward with universal, quality, accessible health care for all Americans, which this budget will lead us to, we will be reducing the cost of health care for the American people, and in lowering those costs, we will lower the cost to our budget and the cost to the deficit of Medicare and Medicaid.

This is not just about the personal health of the American people. That would be justification enough, the personal well-being of our country. And it is not only about health care, it is about the health of the American people. It is about prevention. It is about diet, not diabetes.

So we are moving in a path that lowers costs, makes America healthier, and in doing so, as I say, not only helps individuals with their health, personal well-being, but we are helping businesses to compete. Health care costs are a competitiveness issue, and if we're going to compete domestically and internationally, we must lower health care costs for businesses. It's about costs to our economy, of all of this money spent on health care and not having the commensurate health of America to go with it. And, again, it's about lowering the cost, reducing entitlement. Health care reform is entitlement reform.

In terms of education, this budget calls for innovative approaches from early childhood to tax credits for costs of college, as well as increasing the funding for Pell Grants and making college more affordable. So, from earliest childhood to higher education, and then beyond, this budget is a path not only for, again, the self-fulfillment of the American people, but the innovation of America. Innovation begins in the classroom.

So all three of these are measures which, again, are justified and necessary in their own right, but will reduce the deficit, will create jobs, and will do so in a new way, taking us in a new direction.

So, having said that, this is a budget about the future. I was very tempted, when I saw the leader with his voting card, to bring a picture of my granddaughter, my new granddaughter, just a little over a month old, to the floor. Oh, we do have it here. I won't resist the temptation, for two reasons. First of all, I can't take my eyes off of her, and second of all, this is what our commitment is about. It's our commitment to the future, to these children.

As we go forward, we must take the country in a new direction, and in doing so, reduce the deficit. We are not here to heap mountains of debt on our children and our grandchildren. That is what was done in the last 8 years in the Bush administration. This budget calls a halt to that and says no. It says no more debt.

We're going in the opposite direction. We're reducing the deficit as we create good-paying jobs in our economy, as we cut taxes for the middle class in our country.

This is a magnificent blueprint for the future. And again, I salute Chairman Spratt for his extraordinary leadership in bringing it to the floor today and urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' for a new direction for our country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 109, supporting the mission and goals of 2009 National Crime Victims' Rights week to increase public awareness of the rights, needs, an concerns of victims and survivors of crime in the United States, and to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. I thank Congressman Costa, Congressman Poe, Congresswoman Matsui, Congressman Marchant, and Congressman Moran for introducing this meaningful resolution which recognizes and acknowledges the over 25 million individuals that are victims of crimes each year in this country. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. As members of Congress, we need to acknowledge the impact of crime on individuals, families, and communities and we need to ensure that rights, resources, and services are available to help rebuild lives.

This resolution is important because while our nation has steadily, and rightfully, expanded rights, protections and services for victims of crimes, too many victims are still not able to realize the hope and promise of the gains. Our country must do more to ensure that services are available for underserved segments of the population, including crime victims with disabilities, victims with mental illness, and victims who are teenagers, elderly, or from urban and rural areas or communities of color. According the National Center for Victims:

One person is murdered every 31 minutes.

One person is raped every 1.9 minutes.

One person is assaulted every 36.9 seconds.

One home is burglarized every 18 seconds.

One woman is victimized by an intimate partner every 52 seconds.

One child is reported abused or neglected every 34.9 seconds.

One person is killed in an alcohol-related crash every 40.4 minutes.

One person becomes a victim of identity theft every 4.9 seconds.

One elderly person is victimized by a violent crime every 4.2 minutes.

We must observe victims' rights and treat victims with dignity and respect and engage them in the justice system, which will also further gain respect for public authorities and promote confidence in public safety. The people of this country will be safer and stronger by serving victims of crime and ensuring justice for all.

It is necessary that we, as members of Congress, mark the anniversary of the enactment of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. This Act is the hallmark of the Federal Government's recognition of its commitment to supporting rights and services for victims of all types of crime through the establishment of the Crime Victims Fund. This fund is paid by criminal fines and penalties, not tax payer dollars. The fund has collected more than $9 billion from offender fines and penalties to be used exclusively to help victims of crime. These funds have aided the more than 4 million victims of crime a year. The money provides medical care, counseling and funeral costs. This act has encouraged other programs to also transfer offender fines into help for victim rehabilitation.

The theme of the 2009 National Crime Victim's right Week, celebrated April 26-May 2, 2009 is ``25 years of Rebuilding Lives: Celebrating the Victims of Crime Act''. This theme highlights the Act's significant achievements and contributions in advancing rights and services for all crime victims. This week will provide an opportunity for the nation to strive to reach the goal of justice for all by ensuring that all victims are afforded legal rights and provided with assistance to face the financial, physical, spiritual, psychological and social impact of crime.

I encourage my colleagues to pass this resolution so that we can increase the public awareness of the impact of crime on victims and survivors, and of the constitutional and statutory rights and needs of victims of crime. This resolution will recognize the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. It will also direct the clerk of the House of Representatives to transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to the Office for Victims of Crime within the Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice.

In Harris County, within the 18th District of Texas, which I proudly represent, the Houston Mayor's Crime Victims Office has a saying, ``Crime victims are the only unwilling participants in our criminal justice system; everyone else chooses their own roles. Victims' rights are often a mere courtesy, while defendants' rights--and rightfully so--are protected in our Constitution. Victims' rights deserve the same protection.'' While Harris County is fortunate to have some of the Nation's finest victim service organizations, such as the Houston Area

Women's Center, Parents of Murdered Children, AVDA, MADD and Family Time, as well as victim liaisons staffed from our criminal justice partners it is far from immune from crime. The Harris County Victim Witness Division, alone, assisted over 30,000 victims of crime last year and helped them receive $16.9 million in restitution.

I have been and continue to be an advocate for victims of crime most importantly with my latest legislation, H.R. 262, the David Ray Ritcheson Hate Crime Prevention Act which I also introduced in the 110th Congress. I twice sponsored a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the people of the United States should grieve for the loss of life that defined the Third Reich and celebrate the continued education efforts for tolerance and justice, reaffirming the commitment of United States to fight against intolerance and prejudice in any form, and honoring the legacy of transparent procedure, government accountability, the rule of law, the pursuit of justice, and the struggle for universal freedom and human rights. Additionally, I sponsored H.R. 5610, in the 109th Congress, the Foreign Anti-Sex Offender Protection Act of 2006. I have co-sponsored numerous bills that benefit victims of crimes.

Nobody wants, or deserves, to be a victim of crime. I urge my colleagues to pass this Resolution and acknowledge and support these unfortunate victims.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.

Madam Speaker, I get a little bit of a sense of deja vu this morning. We've kind of been around this vote a while. But we got some new news this morning that's troubling news. The economy in the first quarter of this year has declined by 6.1 percent, 6.1 percent negative economic growth, the worst drop in our economy now since the mid 1970s. And if you look at the data, it shows you that the American consumer is more or less hanging in there. It's the investment from businesses that has dried up. It is business investment that's not occurring in this economy that's creating this great recession leading to all these job losses.

So as we look at this budget, I think a few new points ought to be brought to light since we have been around this budget quite a bit, which is, number one, looking at the economic data underneath this budget. It shows you that the debt and deficits that are currently projected in this budget are going to go much higher.

If you take a look at the economic assumptions that the Office of Management and Budget uses, they're a whole lot rosier than what's occurring. If you look at their inflation projections, which inflation just came in at 2.9 percent this quarter, they're a whole lot rosier, meaning put reality into the

budget and the deficits and debts go even higher.

We already see that the Congressional Budget Office is telling us, versus the President's budget numbers, were about $2.1 trillion deeper into deficits. Now with this new data, even more red ink.

But worse yet, as I just described, the current bad economic numbers we got, business investment is down. That means businesses are not investing.

So what does this budget do? It raises taxes on investment. It raises taxes on businesses.

You've got to remember, Madam Speaker, that almost 70 percent of our jobs come from small businesses. More than half of those who pay those top tax rates are small businesses. It's those industrial companies that are in the business parks that ring the sides of our cities in Elkhorn and Janesville and Kenosha and Racine, Wisconsin. That's where most people get their jobs.

So what does this bill do? It raises taxes on those small businesses. It actually raises their taxes such to the point where they pay a higher tax rate than the largest corporations in America.

This budget also repeals tax deferral. Now, what does that mean? That means all of our big businesses that make things in America and sell them overseas, we're going to tax them twice and make our exports even less competitive. We're going to tax business investment. What does it do on capital gains and dividends, on the seed corn and seed capital that funds the innovations, that funds the entrepreneurial startups, that the small businesses go to to get their money to expand and invest and create jobs? It raises taxes on that as well.

So we are raising taxes on the very things that give us business investment and give us jobs. We are raising taxes on the very things that make up our pensions, our 401(k)s, and our college savings plans. And we are raising these taxes $1.5 trillion a year in order to chase ever higher spending.

I yield myself an additional 30 seconds to say that we are raising taxes, the most we have ever done. I know the chairman will give us some convoluted explanation on how this is actually cutting taxes. Keeping taxes where they are on some tax policies is not cutting taxes; it's keeping taxes where they are. Making them go up means you're raising them to chase higher spending. The higher taxes in this bill never catch the higher spending; so we have a mountain of debt among the likes we have never seen before.

That is why we have such a difference of opinion with this budget. That is why we offered a principled alternative to this budget, which is controlling spending, keeping taxes low, and getting our debt under control.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to our distinguished minority whip, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor).

I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to our distinguished House Conference chairman, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence).

(Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.

Madam Speaker, this is a big moment. This is a big moment in our history that the historians will look back to as a key pivot in American history and the American experiment and the American project.

What this budget does not do is it does not practice Clinton economics. It does not practice the kind of economics we have had in this country that gave us the longest peacetime expansion, the kind of economics that gave us unprecedented prosperity. Bill Clinton cut tax rates and controlled spending in a bipartisan budget agreement in 1997 which paved the way for the surpluses that later occurred, which were projected, that went away. It was bipartisan.

This is different. This is new. This budget takes a look at those mistakes made in the past that we are hearing all these criticisms of, too much spending, too much debt, and what does it do? It adds to it. Instead of controlling spending, as the critics have said we should have done, this has spending go out of control. Instead of controlling the debt, as the critics say should have occurred, debt goes out of control.

I urge a rejection of this budget. Let's start over again and save this country and move us down the path of fiscal discipline, not fiscal recklessness.

Madam Speaker, at this time I yield our final minute to our distinguished minority leader, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner).