Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Harris), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Harris), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I support the bipartisan budget deal that will extend the debt ceiling and lift the current budgets caps for the next 2 years.

This important deal will avoid harmful cuts to domestic priorities, prevent a default on our Nation's debt, and finally allow appropriators to get to work on this year's appropriations bills to fund the government.

Despite proposing draconian cuts in his budget, I am glad that President Trump has agreed to join Democrats in permanently ending the threat of sequester.

For too long, sequestration has handcuffed Congress's ability to make investments in middle-class priorities that advance the health, financial security, and well-being of the American people.

I am pleased that this agreement goes even further than previous budget deals by increasing nondefense spending by $10 billion more than defense spending.

With this budget deal, Democrats have secured an increase of more than $100 billion in funding for domestic priorities since President Trump took office.

I am especially pleased that this budget deal will allow us to continue making the big investments in medical research conducted at the National Institutes of Health, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that will improve and save lives.

Because of NIH funding, new treatments have been developed that reduced cancer deaths more than 25 percent over past two decades.

Thirty years ago, HIV was a death sentence. Because of NIH funding, that is no longer the case.

Because of NIH-funded research, deaths from heart disease and stroke have fallen by nearly 80 percent since 1970.

Because of NIH funding, we are on the verge of curing--yes, curing-- sickle cell anemia.

Consider this: Between 2010 and 2016, the Food and Drug Administration approved more than 200 new drugs and treatments for use in the United States; every single one of them was developed with NIH dollars.

Congress has recognized the importance of NIH, which is why we have, on a bipartisan basis, provided the NIH with $9 billion in additional funding over the past 4 years, a 30 percent increase in that time.

This agreement will allow us to continue those vital investments.

Most importantly, this agreement will help prevent another harmful government shutdown from occurring this fall.

While not perfect, this budget deal will finally allow Congress to get to work on this year's appropriations bills and invest in the programs that the American people rely on.

I hope that my colleagues will join me in passing this agreement with overwhelming bipartisan support.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Harris), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source