mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman for yielding me time .  mr. chairman , the republican budget that we are considering assumes funding for the community development block grant programs that for this coming year is $ 1.5 billion below last year 's level adjusted for inflation .  and while it may be reassuring to some to hear the words of the chairman of the committee on the budget tell us that they like local control of community development block grants , they seem to like it $ 1.5 billion less than they did last year .  and when they tell us that they like community development block grants so much that they are funding it more than president bush proposes , that just means they are poking it with one fist instead of with two , because his is a really draconian cut , and they have made it just a little less painful than what he proposes to do .  community development block grant is a mouthful , but in a little town like freer , texas , it is concerned with holes , the holes of abandoned septic systems where several children have drowned , and they do not have a reliable sewer system there , so they have used the community development block grant program for the health and safety of that community .  in mcallen , texas , in austin , texas , it is the principal source of funding to help with affordable housing for seniors , for those with disabilities , for poor people , to have a chance to share in rehabilitated housing , some new housing .  in many of these communities , the dollars are going to food banks , they are going to assist in a variety of social programs that are stretched and strained that municipalities could not do without community development block grant projects .  the reason we are faced with this kind of challenge , as with the other challenges in this budget , it does not have anything to do with osama bin laden ; it has to do with the decisions that were made down the street on pennsylvania avenue and that were implemented by this republican congress .  indeed , with the budget that we are considering tonight , this administration says to those who are poor , who are uninsured , essentially what leona helmsley said , that only the little people pay taxes .  well , this administration thinks that only the little people , like the folks in freer , texas , only the little people ought to bear the burden of its fiscal irresponsibility .  we have never had a more fiscally irresponsible administration than the one we have in office today , that has driven the deficit to the highest level in american history and then turns to poor people in freer , texas , to kids that are trying to get a decent education , to our veterans , and says you bear the burden .  you dig us out of this hole we dug into with your little shovels to make up for the big shovels where we shoveled out all the revenue to those at the top of the economic ladder .  it is unfair , and that is why this budget ought to be rejected .  