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 23, 2007)

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, I would like to thank the Chairman of the Budget Committee for his efforts to include my bipartisan amendment to increase the allocation for LIHEAP, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, to $3.2 billion in the budget resolution. As the chairman knows, this is the level that was recommended in a bipartisan letter signed by 35 governors and is the minimum level of funding needed to allow States to provide the same level of assistance as in fiscal year 2006.

The rise in energy prices has led to an increase in the number of families seeking and receiving assistance. In fiscal year 2006, with an additional $1 billion, over 500,000 additional households were served by LIHEAP, increasing the total to 5.6 million. However, that represents less than 15 percent of the eligible households.

LIHEAP is not only a heating program, it is also a cooling program. The number of households receiving cooling assistance increased to 540,000 in fiscal year 2006, up from 315,000 in 2005.

LIHEAP provides a vital safety net for our Nation's low-income households by helping them remain healthy and secure during bitterly cold winters in the North and hot summers in the South. For many low-income families, disabled individuals, and senior citizens living on fixed incomes, home energy costs are unaffordable. Low-income families pay close to 18 percent of their income on energy. The average family only pays 4 percent.

According to a recent survey conducted by the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, NEADA, families who receive LIHEAP are very poor and have few choices but to cut back on food, medicine, and other essentials in order to pay their home energy costs when funding is inadequate to meet the need. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said that without LIHEAP, they would have had to keep their home at an unsafe or unhealthy temperature. Fifty-four percent said that they would have had their electric or gas service disconnected if LIHEAP benefits had not been available.

Increasing funding for this vital and valuable program remains a top priority for me. I am grateful that the Senate has accepted this bipartisan amendment.

I also want to reiterate my comments from yesterday about this budget resolution. Chairman Conrad has worked tirelessly to ensure that this resolution meets the pressing needs of the American people and restores the fiscal discipline that has been lacking for several years.

We have been charting an unsustainable fiscal policy course over the last 6 years. Instead of a $505 billion surplus in 2006, Republican fiscal policies left us with a deficit of $248 billion. Reversing this course and restoring balance is essential to our economic well-being. This budget takes the necessary steps toward equilibrium by achieving a balanced budget by 2012 and providing funding for essential programs that improve the lives of hardworking Americans who have been struggling during this sluggish economic recovery.

It includes necessary funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, SCHIP; a program that provides a vital safety net to millions of families who do not earn enough to buy health insurance for their children.

The budget also includes language that allows for the establishment of an affordable housing fund financed by government-sponsored enterprises. This affordable housing fund will provide grants for the production, preservation, and rehabilitation of affordable housing for very low-income families.

The budget resolution reinforces our commitment to America's veterans by including $43.1 billion for discretionary veterans' programs and rejecting the President's proposed increases in fees on veterans enrolled in the VA health care system.

I was also pleased to see that this budget rejects the President's proposed cuts in funding for education and training programs and instead appropriately invests in these necessary endeavors, in part by including significant increases in funding for the Department of Education--$6.1 billion above the President's request and $4 billion above the FY07 inflation-adjusted level.

I thank Chairman Conrad and his staff for their hard work in producing this budget, which is both supportive of the needs of the American people and fiscally sound. I will support this resolution and urge my colleagues to do the same.

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