I move that the house do now adjourn. The speaker pro tempore the question is on the motion to adjourn. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have t the motion is adopted. Accordingly the house stands adjourned until 11 30 a. M. On tuesday may 5 2015. Involved in the arrest of freddie gray who died last month after being injured in police cuss totty have been charged criminally. States attorney Marilyn Mosby announced today. Charges range from Second Degree murder to misconduct in office. The sun says warrants were issued for the arrest of all six officers. It wasnt immediately clear where the officers were friday morning. Read more at baltimoresun. Com. Coming up here on cspan in under an hour well take you live to the benning penning for a briefing from defense second Ashton Carter. Hell talk about the pentagons annual report on Sexual Assault in the military again live a 1 00 p. M. Eastern. The house wrapped up work for the week. Passing the military construction and Veterans Affairs bill yesterday. And today the energy and water bill. They also yesterday passed the budget conference report. A vote there of 226197. The conference report setting the budget and Spending Plans and priorities for the next fiscal year. Heres what the debate looked like from yesterday. Georgia. Mr. Price thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by thanking everyone involved in getting us to this moment where we have an agreement between the house and the Senate Budget conferees on a joint balanced Budget Proposal before the congress. All members of our committee and the Conference Committee and their staffs should be commended for their hard work and i want to commend specifically the staff directors on both sides of the aisle. Rick and tom made certain their respective members were prepared for the activity weve gone through over the past four months. We are set, mr. Speaker, to adopt the first balanced budget of this kind in over a decade. Thats important not only from an Historical Perspective but also for what it says about this Congress Commitment to doing the work that the American People sent us here to do. To get it done. To move forward. With positive solutions for a healthier economy and a stronger more secure nation. What we have before us today mr. Speaker, is a budget that balances within 10 years without raising taxes. Reduces spending over 5 trillion over that period of time which will not only get washingtons fiscal house in order, but paving the way for Stronger Economic growth, more jobs and more opportunity. It invests in our nations priorities ensures a Strong National defense and saves and strengthens and protects important programs like medicare and Social Security. Mr. Speaker, i know our friends on the other side of the aisle, well hear from them and they may have a difference of opinion, and if passed as pro past is prolong, prologue, were bound to hear from them. Theyll say our budget will, in their words quote, hurt the middle class unquote. That statement bears no resemblance to reality, mr. Speaker. The policies of president obama that led to the worst economic recovery. Stagnant wages, underwheeling growth in our economy and the economy grew in the First Quarter by. 2 . There is a reason for that. We need to get the economy rolling. The best thing we can get for the middle class is get our economy turned around soy more jobs are being created and more dreams being realized. Guess what, mr. Speaker . Our budget does that. More effective and more accountable lifting the regime off the jobs backs and American Companies can better compete more effectively in the global economy. By doing all of that the Congressional Budget Office tells us that we will bring in deficits and lower Government Spending, which will have a positive, longtermimpact on the economy as well as the budget. Benefits like increases in the pool of National Savings and investment, which would allow for more growth and job creation and more economic security. Our friends on the other side of the aisle, they are fond of attacking our efforts to save, strengthen and protect programs like medicare, medicaid and Social Security. Why some folks here in washington would be willing to let these programs go bankrupt is beyond me. Medicare and Social Security are going broke. Thats not according to me but the trustees of the programs. Medicaid is not working for patients or the doctors who would like to be able to serve them. The status quo is unsustainable and doing nothing is un defensible. We have to save these programs for the sake of beneficiaries and future generations, and our budget does just that. Further, our budget prioritizes the safety and security of the American People channeling important resources to our men and women in uniform. We do so in a responsible way, in a manner consistent with current law and without allowing further across the board cuts in defense spending. There are those who criticize on how we do that and i respect their opinion, but we are faced with largely complex National Security threats and we need to find a way to move forward to ensure those protecting our lives and freedom have the support and training that they need. I look forward to an open and honest debate about the vision we put forward to get our nations fiscal house in order, to strengthen our nations defenses and to ensure a healthier economy for all americans because thats exactly what this budget agreement does. I urge my colleagues to support the agreement. And i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from maryland is recognized. Mr. Van hollen i rise in strong opposition to this budget conference report. I do agree with the gentleman on one issue which is the staff of the Budget Committee on both sides republican and democrat, have worked very hard. Mr. Speaker, i have to say that the product that is brought before us today is the wrong direction for america. We began with a house budget that was wrong for america. We went to conference with the Senate Budget. It was wrong for america. So its not surprising, but it is still disappointing that we come to the floor today with a budget thats wrong for america. Why do i say that . Well, look, we are entitled to our opinions, but we dont get to make up our own facts. And the reality is, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the folks who are referees in this house and this congress, where people have competing opinions, they have said that this republican budget will slow down the economy over the next couple of years. Its right here on page 3 of their report. Real g. N. P. , real Economic Growth per person will be lower by. 6 under the specific paths than under the baseline 2016 to 2018 c. B. O. Budget estimates. Lets translate that. What that means is that compared to what would happen in the economy without the republican budget, if we didnt have this, this will make things worse. This will slow down Economic Growth. This means less Economic Growth per person in the United States of america. Thats not me saying it, thats the nonpartisan budget experts saying it. So its going to slow down Economic Growth, although we have good news, some good news in the economy, right . We have seen month after month of positive Economic Growth. We would like to see the economy grow faster and grow stronger, but we have seen over 61 consecutive months positive Economic Growth. Why in the world would we want a budget that in the next couple of years slows down that Economic Growth according to the Congressional Budget Office . It gets worse than that, because one of the chronic problems we have seen in our economy, mr. Speaker over the last many years not just two or three or four, but over decades is this phenomenon where americans are working harder than ever, they are more productive than ever, but their paychecks are flat, their takehome pay is flat. So you have rising and working productivity people working harder than ever but not translating into higher wages and benefits. You know back about 30, 40 years ago, we had a chart with rising worker productivity and guess what else was rising with it . Worker wages. Last 30 years, we have seen people working harder than ever, productivity is going up, but wages for most americans have been pretty flat in real terms. The gain of that increase in worker productivity has flowed to folks at the very top end of the economic ladder. And god bless them, but why would we want to bring a budget to the floor of the house that squeezes even tighter and harder the people who are working hard every day and not seeing their paychecks go up . How does their budget make life harder for most americans . First of all, it increases taxes on working families. They get rid of the bum up in the child tax credit. They get rid of the strengthening of the earned income tax credit. They eliminate entirely the college deduction that helps Families Afford College in this era of high tuition rates. They eliminate the at Affordable Care act tax care credits meaning millions wont be able to access Affordable Care. Students, they start charging students higher Interest Rates on their loans. Right now, a student in college doesnt have to pay interest on their loan while theyre in college. Our republican colleagues apparently think a trillion dollars of student debt is not enough. They want to charge them more. Its a fact under this budget. Seniors, they want to reopen the Prescription Drug doughnut hole. Its not a secret. As a result, seniors with high Prescription Drug costs on medicare will be paying lots more and paying higher copays for Preventive Health care under this republican budget. So working families, Students Seniors all squeezed even tighter. Ill tell you who is not squeezed at all under this budget folks at the very top. This budget green lights the romneyryan tax plan. What does that plan propose . Lets cut the top tax rate for millionaires by a third, a third. Take it down from 39 to 28 , 25 range. Thats who gets a big break in their tax rates. So while theyre cutting tax rates for folks at the very top, what else are they cutting . Theyre cutting our kids education and cutting investments in science and Research Like n. I. H. , cutting modernizing our infrastructure, which helps power our economy. Why . Because they are cutting the portion of the budget we use to make those investments by 40 below the lowest level as a share of the economy since we have been keeping records, in the 1950s. That is a disinvestment in america. So they are cutting those investments. I tell you what they dont cut they dont cut one special interest tax break to help reduce the deficit, not one penny. Apparently that Corporate Jet tax deduction, they need it. Apparently that special tax rate for hedge fund managers, they really need it because they dont want to eliminate any of those to reduce the deficit, but they want to increase taxes on working families and cut our investment in education. And heres the sad part about it mr. Speaker. After all that, it still doesnt balance. Not by a long shot. Heres the chart. Sorry we have to go through this math so many times but i will tell you that the current chairman of the Senate Budget committee, senator enzi talked about this budget accounting scam that is at the heart of the republican budget and heart of the claim that they have a balanced budget because you see they claim that at the end of the 10year window they also say they are eliminating the Affordable Care act. But guess what . The budget relies on the same level of revenue as the Affordable Care act. So if you get rid of the Affordable Care act and those receive news, you arent close to balance. I apologize, mr. Speaker. I tell you what else it doesnt take into account. The tax provisions. You may recall, mr. Speaker, that we had on this floor, about 10 days ago a republican proposal to eliminate the estate tax for estates over 10 million. That was the overwhelming economic priority of our republican colleagues to get rid of the estate tax for states over 10 million, 5500 people in this country per year. You can put more people on a big cruise ship. That added about 260 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years. Guess what . Wasnt accounted for in the republican budget. And if you did account for that and the other tax cut measures for special interests that are being brought to the floor its even further out of balance. This is just alice in wonderland accounting. We should be going back to the drawing board. We havent talked about the whole sort of shell game with the o. C. O. Account, which is having an impact on Appropriations Bills here in the house because our republican colleagues are doing the exact opposite what they said we should do last year. Read the republican own budget Conference Committee report. Let me close with respect to veterans, because the reality is that the first bill coming to the floor based on this budget conference report for veterans and military construction, the veterans of foreign wars says its bad for veterans. It has a lower amount for our veterans than in the president s proposal. So we believe we should be true to the values and priorities of this country. And we dont think that means giving folks at the very top millionaires and others cuts in their tax rates while disinvesting in the rest of america. I must strongly oppose this budget Conference Committee report, because it really does take america down the wrong path and i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from maryland reserves. The gentleman from georgia. Mr. Price i yield three minutes to the vice chairman of the Budget Committee, mr. Rokita. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Rokita i thank chairman price for his leadership. I thank my colleagues. Robust discussion and debate. But we come out of those lates nights, those long hours with the product here today. And the product here today unfortunately is a more rare product than it should be. You see, mr. Speaker, for the First Time Since 2001 14 years, we have a balanced joint budget resolution. Bicameral. And as a relatively new person to this chamber, in my fifth year you think about why thats the case. Unfortunately you have to conclude that most of the time were talking about the demagoguery. Some of which we just heard. Half the story so to speak, whats really going on here. If we would have full, honest discussions about where this country really needs to go, where the federal government needs to go in terms of improving its debt, deficit picture, the whole budget picture, youd really see that the economy in this country could be better off with those honest full discussions. This budget, for example, does balance in less than 10 years without raising taxes. Without raising taxes. The gentleman very much knows the chair the gentleman from indiana controls the time. Mr. Rokita the gentleman very much knows that the Budget Committee doesnt write tax predescriptions. Its the ways and Means Committee. But we say in our budget document, the ways and Means Committee should get on with the business of tax reform. What the Congressional Budget Office that the gentleman mentioned says is that over the 10year window of this budget agreement, the economy will grow 400 billion. Thats hardly a contraction. 400 billion, at least to some of us, is a lot of money and thats great for Economic Growth. This budget agreement does that. See what i mean mr. Speaker. By the whole story . It also ensures a Strong National defense, making sure that our troops have the money they need but remain accountable to the money thats given. It gives us a chance to repeal in full taxes in full, taxes and all, obamacare, and allows us a chance to start over with patientcentered health reform. Hasnt been done, we havent had that chance in a long time. You see obamacare, mr. Speaker, is an expensive proposition and were seeing more and more proof of that every day. Strengthens medicare for the future without county affecting those near retirement now. This is important. Some of us, for my friends on the conservative side have looked at the press reports and found, hey, weve given up on medicare, absolutely is not nor for