Mr. SCHRADER. Madam Speaker, I would like to speak to the rule. I appreciate this opportunity.
I'm not going to bore the rest of the body or the American people with more discussion about the inherited deficit we've got and about the necessary recovery plan that has been enacted to put Americans back to work after the Bush administration destroyed our economy, morally bankrupted us, as well as financially.
It also is amazing to me that, in the Republican budget I have here, there is nothing that addresses the long-term cost drivers that the budget of change has that has been put forward by the President of the United States and the Democratic Congress. We're dealing with the long-term cost drivers of health care, with the need for a 21st century education, and with the fact that we can no longer have our economy being at the mercy of people in the Middle East.
What is amazing is what is not in this budget. In this budget, the most explicit piece is about how we get wasteful spending under control. We just heard the Republican floor leader talk about the fact that, yes, we did not go after wasteful spending in the last 8 years. Well, this budget doesn't do it. It is in our budget. We talk about program integrity. We talk about making sure that seniors are taken care of with their Social Security, and we talk about preventing fraud and abuse. That fraud and abuse gives us an $11 return for every dollar we've invested.
Tax compliance: Instead of letting the wealthy get away with huge tax breaks that hardworking Americans don't get, we actually have a tax compliance feature in this budget that actually makes sure we get $5 for every dollar invested.
Medicare-Medicaid: The fraud and abuse that's going on in there with wealthy people trying to game the system at the mercy of hardworking individuals and seniors who are destitute is abominable. For getting after that fraud and abuse in our budget, we actually talk about the fact that there's a $1.60 return for every dollar invested. Most importantly, I think we recognize that the States are the incubators of a lot of innovation. There is a partnership fund established where we can do some creative work.
A lot of this work has been done in my home State of Oregon. It yielded tremendous benefits when I was in charge of the appropriations process back there.
The last comment I'd make, Madam Speaker, as to what is not in the Republican budget that is in the Democrat budget is: We talk about performance management. We actually make sure that agencies are held accountable for every single tax dollar that's being spent, and I'm sorry to say that that's nowhere in the Republican budget.
