Committee Statment

"Let it be remembered that Congress began this debate on whether or not to reduce corporate tax revenues to pay for our National Security on the same day that our Committee Leadership, like our President, is meeting with the Chinese.

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">

During his questioning, he also made clear that while he shares the view that in this time of growing deficits, we must be ferreting out wasteful spending, this federal support for education is not where cuts should be made:. "I have heard this view echoed loudly by some inTexas who seem not only interested in takingAmerica back but taking it backward. If parents [and states] could shoulder all of these responsibilities, these loan programs wouldn't have been set up by President Eisenhower and others on a bipartisan basis back in the 1950s."

To see one of the best examples of why we need today's hearing, you can view a brief ABC News investigative report by Jesse Drucker for Bloomberg News, by clicking here.

I have been trying to put a stop to the unchecked growth of tax breaks and to slow our growing National debt. I am concerned about spending—whether through the Appropriations Act or the Tax Code. We need to closely examine both types of expenditures to ensure that each is effective, efficient and truly necessary. As we continue seeking ways to reduce the deficit, I look forward to hearing from you. I believe that closing tax loopholes is an important way to protect the Treasury and better avoid raising taxes on working families.

44 million Americans are carrying in their wallet or purse something that makes them more vulnerable to identity theft: their Medicare card. Apart from the Social Security card itself, the Medicare card is the most frequently issued government document containing a person's Social Security number and displaying such information on Medicare cards unnecessarily places millions of individuals at-risk for identity theft.

Today, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified to our House Budget Committee regarding his views on the state of our economy. One of the measures that we discussed was H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending Fund bill.

During a House Budget Hearing today, Congressman Lloyd Doggett recognized the life of Vernon Hunter, who was killed last Thursday in the suicide attack on IRS employees in Austin. Before beginning his questioning of U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner, Doggett observed, "Certainly the professionalism of the IRS employees there, the help of a good Samaritan and our first responders were vital in minimizing the loss of life [in Austin]. Some of the responses to that attack have been nothing short of appalling.

At a recent Budget Committee hearing on curbing the federal deficit, I questioned John Podesta, President of the Center for American Progress and Robert Greenstein, Executive Director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about the importance of reviewing tax expenditures as well as direct expenditures. It is not enough to control direct spending programs, we must also control less transparent spending through the Tax Code. When we look at a lake level down in Central Texas, we consider not only the water that is flowing out, but also the water that is flowing in.