Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2007

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, first, I thank Senator Akaka for his tremendous leadership on this veterans issue. I couldn't agree with him more. This isn't about a bidding war; this is about getting it right.

I want to, first of all, thank Senator Burns for his amendment because what it does is recognizes and acknowledges the serious problem we have today in making sure we have the funds available to pay for the services that our veterans not only deserve but were promised to them.

We are at a critical time in our Nation's history. We are at war. What message does it send to those we have sent overseas if we are telling veterans today that they are going to have to pay copays and increased fees once they return? What message does it send to those who are serving us overseas today that the veterans who have gone before them are waiting in long lines, they are not getting help and the promises that were given to them?

What I appreciate is that Senator Burns' amendment acknowledges the serious challenge we have within this budget in making sure we meet the rising demand for our veterans today.

I know Senator Craig has said we have increased the VA budget dramatically. My colleagues all remember us last year having to come to the floor to add billions of dollars to the veterans budget because we were shorthanded. But, Mr. President, to many of us, you will recall, it was not a surprise. We have hundreds of thousands of men and women who are coming home from a war in which we are currently engaged who are now needing to access veterans health care facilities. Of course, there is an increased cost. At the same time, we have an aging Vietnam veterans population who are accessing our veterans health care services. At the same time, health care across the board is increasing the costs. Everyone who is providing health care has to pay increased costs. So of course the VA budget, as a health care system, has to increase its costs as well.

I also should remind my colleagues that because so many employers today cannot afford the cost of rising health care, they are not providing health care to their employees, and those who are veterans are turning to the VA, increasing the numbers who access it, and they have a right to do that.

On top of that, Medicare Part D, which we need to talk about, is already a problem. Our folks across the country are calling in to ask: Whom do we sign up with for Medicare Part D? And they are being asked by our own DHS: Are you a veteran? And if they say, yes, they say: Don't sign up for Medicare Part D, go to the VA. That is great. They deserve that, but it is increasing the numbers accessing our VA.

Yes, of course, the budget has gone up, but does it meet the need? That is the test this country needs to consider and that we as Senators need to consider in this budget.

Again, my colleague from Montana has acknowledged that in his amendment. Here is where we have a problem. How do you pay for it, and when you pay for it, is it a reality?

This function 920 everybody is robbing from is merely saying that we are not going to increase the budget to pay for this, we are going to pretend there is money out there. That may work very well now, but it will not work when we get to next fall, probably after the election, and we actually are sitting down and writing our appropriations

bills and passing them on this floor, within the cap of those appropriations bills, and there will not be the funding to increase this.

So let's not do some imaginary proposal and all go home and get well on making sure we provide the services. We will be offering an amendment with Senator Akaka that actually provides the increased costs, to make sure we have the funding available.

The acknowledgment is clear on this floor. Charging our veterans a fee and a copay for health care that they were promised is not the right way to balance this budget.

Should we be providing tax cuts for the wealthiest or should we be providing within our budget the means to keep the promises that were made to those men and women who served our country honorably before and are serving it honorably today and, I might add, we will be asking another generation, no doubt in the future, to serve us.

They will watch what we do on this floor. They will watch what we do and how it impacts us next fall and whether we have the actual money within our budgets to provide the health care that is promised when we ask them to sign on the dotted line and serve our country in the future.

Although I commend the Senator from Montana for the sentiments in this amendment, I actually believe the amendment coming from Senator Akaka and myself is the right amendment because it is not an empty promise. It actually is a promise fulfilled, and our veterans deserve that.

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Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Chair.

Mr. President, I rise to support Senator Akaka and the amendment he has offered today that will truly and in reality help make sure we keep the promises we made to the men and women who serve this country overseas and who fought for us in the past and are fighting for us today and will be asked to fight for us in the future. These are people who have served our country. They have kept us safe. They have sacrificed for each and every one of us, and now they need our help. They need the support and the health care that was promised to them when they joined the service, and they need the health care and support in coming home and making sure that we have the services available to them.

Unfortunately, the budget that is now before us is going to leave many of those veterans who have served this country so honorably without health care, without job assistance, and without the support they need to rebuild their lives on the homefront.

Any of my colleagues who have gone out to their State and talked to these men and women, particularly the ones coming home today, you know they are having a hard time with getting jobs, dealing with health care issues, dealing with posttraumatic stress syndrome, facing lines at our veterans facilities, and not being adequately served, much less those veterans who are facing the same long lines and who are being ultimately denied care. Our veterans deserve better. That is why Senator Akaka and I are here today offering this amendment to provide $1.5 billion to keep that promise to America's veterans.

There are two amendments in the Chamber, one offered by Senator Burns and one offered by Senator Akaka. Our colleagues need to understand that the amendment that has been offered by Senator Burns is window dressing. How do I know that? Because we were offered the same amendment last year by, I believe it was Senator Ensign. And what happened? As we warned our colleagues time and time again from the beginning of last year until June, we are billions of dollars short in health care. Finally, in June, the VA Secretary came to us and he said: You know what, you are right; we were $3 billion short. If we sit here in the Chamber and do an empty-promise amendment again, we are going to find ourselves back in the same position.

The Akaka amendment adds real dollars. It puts real, actual money into the budget, so next fall, when we are writing our appropriations bills, we have the capacity within the veterans subcommittee to make sure we can provide the real services our veterans were promised.

I believe our veterans deserve better, and I believe America can do better, and I believe the Senate ought to stand up right now when we are at war and tell those who are serving us that we are going to be there for them and support the Akaka amendment which provides real dollars.

One of the real concerns I have with the budget that is in the Chamber today, that Senator Akaka is trying to amend, is it balances the VA health care dollars by assuming fees and copayments, new fees and new copayments to our veterans. I will tell you, I have talked to many people who have served our country. Not one of them signed a form saying, I will join the service and fight for my country with an asterisk on it, without the promise that we will provide the health care for them when they come home. It is a disservice to those veterans now for us to have a budget in the Chamber of the Senate that says, never mind, now that you have served, now that you are home, now that you need health care, we are going to charge you a fee, we are going to charge you copayments which will dissuade you from getting the health care that you need. That is really the wrong message to send. There is no fine print when someone signs

up to serve our country saying ``exclusions apply.'' For us to impose those fees is wrong, and I hope this Senate goes on record today supporting the Akaka amendment that will make sure that next fall when our budget is tight, there is money there to make sure we are not having to come forward with proposals to do that.

That is why it is so important that we support the Akaka amendment. It is the real amendment in the Chamber. It is not an empty promise. It is not just a be-happy amendment, everything is great, we-supported-veterans amendment. It has real dollars in it, and it is absolutely critical.

Senator Akaka has done an excellent job of defining what is in this amendment. It is really critical that we help our Iraq war veterans who are making the transition back home with the $231 million for transition assistance. Any one of us out talking to our veterans knows they are having trouble coming home and getting a job and getting health care. This is critical outreach money, increasing support for PTSD and menatl health care.

Senator Durbin is on the floor. He has been a strong advocate for making sure we adequately fund PTSD for veterans out in rural communities who do not have access.

I talked to a woman the other day who was talking about the fact that 80 percent of our Guard and Reserve are coming home and getting a divorce. Divorce should not be a result of serving your country. We ought to make sure we have the funds to help those in need, to make sure they transition back into our communities.

This amendment includes support for our veterans clinics, $81 million. Anyone who has been out there knows we do not have enough clinics available, especially in our rural communities, to make sure those folks who have served us get the services they need. Importantly, this amendment and this amendment alone eliminates the fees and copayments that are a tax on our veterans, that this Senator says they should not have to pay. I heard my colleagues from the other side say this amendment raises taxes. What this amendment does is pay for this. Senator says they should not have to pay with real dollars by closing corporate tax loopholes.

I would ask any one of us to go home and ask a corporation or ask a millionaire: Are you willing to pay a little bit more to make sure that those who served us are taken care of when they return home? I doubt any one of us will get a letter from any one of them saying: I am not willing to pay.

The Akaka amendment is the real amendment. It provides real dollars, assures that when we are here next fall doing the VA budget that we actually have the dollars to make sure we are supporting our veterans. This amendment is supported by the independent budget.

I would ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD the letter from AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars in support of the Akaka amendment.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

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Mrs. MURRAY. I commend Senator Akaka, and I tell my colleagues, when we vote in a few minutes, you can vote for the Burns amendment if you want to say: I support veterans. But if you want to make sure we are there for our veterans when they come home with real dollars, you will vote for the Akaka amendment.

I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.

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AMENDMENT NO. 3063

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of myself, Senator Sarbanes, and Senator Leahy, and ask for its immediate consideration.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

The Senator from Washington [Mrs. Murray], for herself, Mr. Sarbanes, and Mr. Leahy, proposes an amendment numbered 3063.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To restore funding for the Community Development Block Grant Program to the fiscal 2004 level by closing tax loopholes previously slated for elimination in Senate-passed legislation)

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to add as cosponsors to the amendment Senators Reed, Kennedy, Lautenberg, Stabenow, Schumer, Mikulski, Durbin, Rockefeller, and Akaka.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the amendment I have sent to the desk tonight, that we will vote on tomorrow, restores the $1 billion cut in funding for Community Development Block Grant Programs that are assumed in the budget resolution that is before the Senate this week.

For more than 30 years, the Community Development Block Grant Program, known as the CDBG, has served as a tremendous catalyst for change in communities across the Nation. It has brought hope and opportunity to families and to residents and to communities everywhere we look in this country. For both cities that are urban and rural, CDBG has supported efforts to expand affordable housing. It invests in neighborhoods, and it supports local economic development projects that have literally revitalized communities.

But tonight, as we look at this budget resolution, that future, that hope is really being diminished. The actual opportunity that so many families have seen is threatened by the work that will not be done if this budget resolution passes in its current form.

The budget resolution we are now considering assumes the President's proposed cap on domestic discretionary spending. And that includes a $1 billion cut to the Community Development Block Grant Program. By the way, that is on top of a $500 million cut that this program received last year.

Now, every one of my colleagues knows how successful this CDBG Program is. You can see its impact in every community back home. Over the past 4 months, I have had the opportunity to talk with mayors and housing authority officials and other local leaders to see how they are using CDBG, and there are some great examples I want to share with the Senate tonight.

The city of Spokane, WA, used $220,000 in CDBG funds and helped remodel and expand the Native Health Clinic and Community Center. This is a clinic in Spokane that provides medical care, substance abuse treatment, mental health and counseling services to economically disadvantaged children, youth, and adults. This money made a difference.

In Vancouver, WA, in the other corner of my State, the Vancouver Housing Authority used CDBG funds to help fund the Esther Short Commons. This is a mixed-use, mixed-income building with 160 units of affordable workforce housing. It is home to businesses in the Vancouver Farmers Market. That building is a very important part of downtown Vancouver's redevelopment. Those funds made a critical difference.

In Bremerton, in Kitsap County, Kitsap Community Resources is using $950,000 in CDBG funding to help build a new facility that will serve the needs of low-income people in Bremerton and Kitsap County. That facility houses a WIC clinic and employment and education programs and is a great addition to the city's efforts to revitalize its downtown. It is a great investment of Federal dollars.

And in Seattle, the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association received $850,000 in CDBG and home funds from the city of Seattle and developed the Croft Place Townhomes. That is a development that is now providing good housing for 21 families at or below the 30- and 50-percent of median income, including families who were previously homeless.

These are just a few examples of how these Federal dollars leverage a difference in our home States. I know every one of my Senate colleagues has heard from their mayors and their communities about the importance of the flexibility of this money and the critical difference it makes in the lives of so many.

As I have said on this floor many times, if we want to be strong abroad, we have to be strong at home. And investing in our infrastructure, bringing new economic revitalization, making sure that affordable housing is available for families, is an absolutely essential part of making sure our country is strong at home.

Any one of us can tell you that if a family does not have a place to call home, then they are not going to be strong, and they are not going to feel their family has opportunity in the future. If you are a young woman trying to raise a family alone, you know you need to have a place to live or those kids are not going to do well in school and your opportunity to send them to college is minimized.

Every one of us knows that a senior citizen who does not have a place to call home that is convenient to services they need--whether it is their doctor or physical activities--is not going to be able to have the dignity they deserve at the end of their life.

And every one of us knows that for families who cannot afford housing in many communities across our States--my State and across the Nation--if they do not have a place to call home that is close to a job, they are not going to be economically self-sufficient.

These CDBG funds have made an incredible difference in people having the security of housing, a place to call home, and financial stability. At the same time, they are bringing economic development, new jobs, new businesses, new economic revitalization, to many of our communities.

Cutting these programs by $1 billion is a disservice to those families, but it is a tragedy for this Nation because we cannot be strong if our families are feeling insecure at home because of the lack of housing. These dollars, we all know, make an incredible difference. This program has changed lives and changed communities.

Now, tomorrow our colleagues on the other side are going to offer an amendment they say will do the same thing. First of all, I thank them for recognizing the budget resolution is not sufficient and does not do the job when it comes to CDBG. But I will call them on how they are going to fund it. Once again, we will see them funded with funny money, saying: We are going to take it from section 920.

Well, already today, this Senate has gone on record taking $6.5 billion from the so-called 920 fund. And it is not there. Why do I know this? Because last year, at this same exact time, Senators on the other side offered an amendment to restore funding for CDBG, and come October, November, and December, when we were doing appropriations bills, this Senate cut half a billion dollars from CDBG. Why? Because the money offered in the amendment on their side was not real.

The same thing is going to happen tomorrow. Senators will have an opportunity to pass a phony amendment and to go home and say to their constituents: Oh, I voted for CDBG. But the bill will come due in the fall, when we do an appropriations bill and that money is not available, and we will see CDBG cut dramatically.

As ranking member on the TTHUD Subcommittee that has the funding on this, I know where this is going to go. I urge my colleagues, and I will tell this country, if you vote for the Murray amendment, you are asking for real dollars. You are telling your communities you are going to be there to help families with affordable housing and communities with redevelopment. If you vote for the amendment from the other side offered by Senator Santorum, you are going to get a nice vote for the day. All Senators will support it. But all it does is say, politically: Yes, I think CDBG is good. It will not provide one single additional dollar when we come to actually appropriating these funds.

So this is extremely critical. Everywhere I go in neighborhoods across my State, I see the insecurity of so many families. They are worried about their jobs. They are worried about whether their kids can go to college. They are worried about whether their pension is going to be there. They worry about whether transportation infrastructure is going to be capable of getting them to their job or back home again. Part of that insecurity, and the most basic part of that insecurity, is housing.

That is what these CDBG funds do. Every Senator on this floor knows it. When you invest in our infrastructure, whether it is housing or transportation, especially through funds such as this, you are creating new jobs, new economic development, and revitalizing communities in ways that I have seen no other dollars do.

Mr. President, tomorrow, again, we will have an opportunity to do a political move if we vote for the Santorum amendment and say we are going to take money from this 920 fund that does not exist, or we can raise the cap, and then, when we are here next fall, actually fund CDBG at a promised level that this Senate will go on record on. It is a critical amendment. I urge its adoption by my colleagues tomorrow.

Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington has 5 minutes 20 seconds.

AMENDMENT NO. 3054

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I will take one additional minute and then yield back my time. But I did want to say, while I had the floor, that I added myself as a cosponsor to the Menendez port security amendment. This is a critical amendment. It is an issue I have been working on since September 11. I have joined with Senator Collins to introduce the GreenLane Maritime Cargo Security Act.

I think what we have all learned over the past week is that our ports and our cargo containers are a huge hole in our Nation's security. We cannot fix it with more rhetoric from this floor. We can fix it if we fund it adequately. This Senate will have an opportunity to vote on that tomorrow. I urge my colleagues to support that amendment when it comes to the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. I will yield back my time in order to move to the next amendment.

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