mr. speaker , just 2 weeks ago , the majority forced a budget vote by two votes to cut $ 50 billion from education , from health care , from foster care , child support , and a host of other vital programs . 
they claimed that they were simply eliminating waste and promoting fiscal responsibility and , most importantly , curbing our national debt . 
but today , they want us to agree to a tax cut for $ 56 billion . 
if we take away the $ 50 billion in the budget tax cuts , but we add $ 56 billion in tax giveaways , we end up with more debt , not less . 
in fact , we end up adding $ 6 billion to the largest deficit in our country 's history , the one created by this republican congress . 
now , if reducing the deficit is not a priority , what has made the majority 's agenda ? 
how we control the purse strings in our hands reveals who we work for . 
of the proposed $ 56 billion in cuts , 50 percent , that is , $ 28 billion , will go to the superrich , those among us who need it the least . 
this bill is for them , the men and women among us who earn more than $ 1 million a year , a mere fraction of 1 percent of americans . 
at the same time , the middle class will continue to be squeezed , while workers who make $ 40 , 000 or less , in other words , those who need help the most , will receive 1 percent of today 's cuts . 
that is what this is about . 
does the republican party really think the american people do not see what is going on here ? 
what this bill shows us today is that republicans care about entrenching privilege , the work of a corrupt and inefficient government , all while talking about tough choices and cutting government waste ; but their rhetoric does not add up . 
if they were serious about making government work better , they would fulfill their responsibility to conduct proper congressional oversight and ensure that the money we do spend is spent efficiently . 
they would look for the $ 9 billion misplaced during iraq reconstruction , and we have tried time and time again to have amendments approved that would do just that . 
now , the loss of $ 9 billion in iraq is what i call government waste , but there is not a court in this country which could find republicans guilty of enforcing accountability in government . 
there would not be the evidence to convict them . 
instead , they cut social services for the needy and send the savings to the rich . 
have tax cuts for the rich become the sole agenda of the majority party ? 
sadly , in the face of numerous challenges from both abroad and home , this increasingly seems to be the case . 
their solution to rehabilitating the lives of those devastated by natural disasters ? 
cut taxes for the rich . 
their solution to curbing an out-of-control national debt ? 
cut taxes for the rich . 
my friends on the other side of the aisle talk about the agenda of reform , but they have controlled the congress for over 10 years , and now they are the status quo . 
as much as they may want to say they are the solution , we know that they have become the problem . 
if they were committed to solutions , they would not funnel money to the rich while they leave the working middle class to fend for themselves , all while cutting education and health care programs and adding billions to the massive debt that is crushing this nation . 
let me point out that the 400 , 000 persons who lost their food stamps in the budget cuts and over 300 , 000 children who lost their breakfast programs , that money is being used today to finance these tax cuts . 
the pursuit of such an agenda violates the trust our constituents have invested in their elected representatives , and it is an abdication of the most fundamental responsibilities of this congress . 
america can be better than this . 
we can do better than selling out the vast majority of our citizens so that congress can give another tax cut to a tiny minority . 
we can do better than increasing our staggering national debt and calling it fiscal responsibility . 
this leadership has forgotten what made america great . 
it has forgotten what made the 20th century the american century , which was investment in the middle class , investment in society , investment in education , investment in opportunity , investment in the future , not investment in the rich . 
it is time for a new direction . 
together , america can do better than what this leadership is proposing here today . 
i urge my colleagues to defeat this bill and defeat this rule . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
