Congressional Budget For The United States Government For Fiscal Year 2008

Floor Speech

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 -- (Senate - March 21, 2007)

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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I rise to support the Baucus amendment as opposed to the Cornyn amendment. I am thrilled this budget before us addresses health care in a responsible way in the amendment from this side. We provide up to $50 billion for this critical Children's Health Insurance Program over the next 15 years that will allow eligible children, who are not today enrolled, to be able to get the coverage they so necessarily need, and it is a critical step.

I commend the authors on this side and Senator Conrad for his tremendous work on that amendment. I rise also to thank Senator Conrad for his tremendous leadership in finally bringing us a budget that redirects the priorities of America's working families. Our families across the country want us to focus on strengthening our country from within. That starts by investing at home in our schools, as Senator Kennedy talked about, and in our infrastructure, and in our communities. That is exactly what this budget does. It still provides every dollar the President asked for for Defense spending over the next 5 years.

Americans want us to make investments in our future in a responsible way. Every family knows the importance of fiscal discipline and the importance of keeping a balanced budget. They expect the Federal Government to share that responsibility. With this budget, we are restoring an important pay-as-you-go rule that means we are being responsible today, and we are not burdening our grandchildren with new debt tomorrow.

American families, we know, also need relief from taxes that are too much today squeezing the middle class, and the budget Senator Conrad has put forward provides relief from the alternative minimum tax for 2 years and avoids any tax increases. I commend him for his responsible approach.

With this budget, we are proving we can invest in our people and our communities and our security without sacrificing the future. It is important to note, as we debate the budget today, that it reflects a new direction for our country. I recall last November when the American people demanded a change, and this budget reflects that call. It says across this country that we will no longer see our veterans shortchanged on their medical care; we will no longer see our communities facing very painful cuts in housing; we will no longer have our ports having gaping security holes they have faced for too long; no longer will our schools be so underfunded; no longer will community health care be undermined continuously at the Federal level; and importantly, no longer will we keep forcing more debt onto our children and grandchildren, without a plan to bring this budget back into balance.

On this side, we have said for a number of years there is a better way, and this budget proves that. I recognize, as we all do, we cannot fund everything everybody wants. No budget can. But this budget, I believe, moves us in the right direction in a responsible way, and that is a dramatic new start for this Senate. Last year, we were struggling to protect critical needs. This year, we are investing in them.

I wish to highlight some of the national priorities in this budget. We know the Bush administration has not adequately funded veterans health care. Now, as we begin the fifth year of this war this week, that becomes more and more evident across the country--whether it is our veterans, who have been struggling to get mental health care, or are waiting in long lines for benefit claims, or a lack of focus on the signature issue of this war, traumatic brain injury, that we have seen highlighted in the press over the last several weeks, or seeing that veterans are shortchanged at medical facilities, as we saw with Walter Reed.

This budget we are presenting to America increases our support for veterans by $3.5 billion over the President's proposal. In fact, the total $43.1 billion we are now investing in veterans' care represents a full 98 percent of the independent budget. That is the budget that has been devised by our veterans service organizations that, as we all know, clearly have proven to be fairly accurate in what they have told us they needed over the last years.

Our budget also, importantly, rejects the President's proposal that would have imposed new fees and higher drug copayments on some of our veterans. Those fees would force more than 100,000 of our veterans to leave the VA health care system, and that was wrongheaded.

I have seen personally the detrimental effects of underfunding veterans health care. As everybody knows, I have fought very hard on this floor to fix the administration's funding blunders and had to work hard here to increase veterans funding by $3 billion in 2005 and 2006. By increasing funding for veterans, this budget finally does what the administration has failed to do, and that is recognize the service and sacrifice of those men and women who have paid the price of this war.

We heard Senator Kennedy a few minutes ago make a strong statement on education. This budget begins to invest here at home in our schools. We have seen years of painful cuts. After that time, we have produced a budget today that addresses the needs of American families who worry so much about finding and affording educational opportunities for their children. This budget provides the largest increase in funding for elementary and secondary education programs in 5 years. That is going to make a real difference for families across this country. We increase funding for the Department of
Education by $6.1 billion above the President's budget and restore all of the painful cuts he proposed--in Perkins grants, Pell grants, Head Start, No Child Left Behind, and the Individuals with Disabilities Act. Those are not just names of programs; those are real children who are impacted by the lack of funding we have seen, and this budget restores that.

I can tell my colleagues that as a former educator and a parent, I know the importance of having the full partnership of the Federal Government in supporting our children and our students. I am so glad this budget strengthens the partnership and eliminates harmful cuts.

I also wish to mention the important investment in this budget in securing our ports. Last year, I worked with other Senators on both sides of the aisle to pass the Safe Ports Act. Unfortunately, even with the passage of that authorization, the President didn't adequately fund this vital program for the security of our country. We, in this budget, increased funding for the Safe Ports Act and provided $400 million for the Port Security Grant Program. That funding means more radiation detectors, more partners in safe trade, and more customs officials who are needed in order to facilitate our trade.

I am very proud that this budget takes real steps, concrete steps to improve port security, while also making sure we maintain and improve our trade efficiency.

Finally, I give my personal thanks to Senator Conrad and his staff for their tireless work in leading the fight on this budget. It has been a privilege to stand at his side on the Budget Committee and to work with him to right this fiscal ship.

This budget, once again, invests in the true priorities of the American people while keeping the needs and aspirations of our future generations in mind. I look forward to passing this budget so we can move forward with the new direction the American people have demanded.

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