Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks, the Senator from Michigan be given 10 minutes, the Senator from Colorado 10 minutes, and if any Republicans come to the floor seeking recognition, that they be intervening between the Democrats.

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

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, first, I thank our budget Chair, Senator Conrad, for presenting to us what has been given to Congress to consider from the President and the White House concerning our budget. I, too, am here this afternoon to talk about President Bush's proposed budget because, as we all know, we began debating it in our Budget Committee today. We have all had a look at this proposal now, and I think many of my colleagues on the Budget Committee agreed we could say it was nothing short of being dishonest and irresponsible and, frankly, unacceptable to many of us.

We are facing some pretty serious problems in this country today, but the budget President Bush sent to us on Monday fails to take any of those challenges into consideration. We are out here trying to pass an economic stimulus package in response to the fact that more than 1 million workers lost their jobs last year in this country. Across the country, we are seeing unemployment claims rise. People are very concerned about what is happening to their paychecks. They are worried about whether they are going to be able to pay for food or their mortgages in the future.

On top of that, we see as many as 2 million Americans who are losing their homes because of the current subprime mortgage crisis. Economists now are telling us that problem is going to get worse before it gets better.

So here we are, and the President sends his budget to us on Monday. It is his eighth and final budget request. He had a chance to send us a budget that would set us off on a fiscally responsible path, one that would help us strengthen this economy, invest in our country's future, and help those families who are struggling today to keep their homes and pay their bills. But instead, the President gave us more of the same, more of what we have seen for the last 7 years. Instead of taking steps in his final budget to help American families get back on their feet, he cut programs, such as heating assistance and job training. Can you imagine how that feels if you are worried about how you are going to pay your home heating bill or if you just lost your job?

Instead of laying the groundwork to reduce our debt, which the chairman of our Budget Committee, Senator Conrad, has repeatedly told us is a huge issue facing us, instead of dealing with that, he gave us a dishonest budget that fails to state the true cost of war. He sent us a budget that put out a blueprint of $70 billion. He is asking $190 billion or $200 billion for this year alone. Does that mean the President is going to bring our troops home? No. He is simply being dishonest about what his programs and his proposals cost. The budget he sent us is going to require us to borrow billions from foreign governments to meet our expenses. I think that is irresponsible.

Over the last 7 years, America has paid dearly for the investments this President has failed to make, and this year in his budget we see nothing different. The Bush budget that was sent to us cuts critical programs at the Veterans' Administration, including medical research. When we have veterans coming home today who have post-traumatic stress syndrome, who have traumatic brain injury, who have lost their limbs, who are suffering from very debilitating issues, he cuts the medical research budget. He cuts funding for extended care facilities, even though we know the number of troops coming home who will need extended care is growing. And he asks the next generation of combat veterans to risk their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and then says to them they are going to have to pay for part of the cost of their health care as a result of their serving this country.

The budget proposal he sent us cuts $484 million from critical workforce training programs right at the time that 7.7 million people are out of work GPO's PDF and asking: How can I get trained for the next job out there?

The budget he sent to us, as Senator Conrad talked about, freezes Medicare reimbursement levels for our hospitals, for our hospices, for ambulance services, and long-term care facilities, even though it threatens access to facilities that are already stretched to the limit. This is going to affect every one of us who will need access to our hospitals, long-term health care facilities for ourselves and our parents in the coming years.

And for the fourth year in a row, amazingly, the President is proposing deep cuts to community development block grants. These are programs that every mayor in every city has told us are the most flexible dollars the Federal Government sends to them that helps them create jobs right at a time when they are facing these tough economic times.

Sadly, the President is slashing funding for section 8 and other low-income housing programs, even as more of our families are set to lose their homes than at any time since the Great Depression.

In the last 7 years, we have gone from a budget surplus to a record deficit, our roads and our bridges are crumbling, and we are paying for a misguided war on the backs of our grandchildren. People desperately want to see leadership that invests in those priorities and helps begin to turn this economy around.

People at home say to me: Invest in our future at home. But sadly, I think the legacy of this administration is going to be red ink and broken promises.

We have some hard work ahead of us as we try to repair the economy and build a budget in the Congress that matches our country's real priorities. That was pretty obvious today at our first hearing of the Budget Committee.

During that hearing, we listened to our OMB Director, Mr. Nussle. He talked a good game about wanting to work with Congress on his budget. But when we began to ask him critical questions, it was pretty clear how little President Bush and his Cabinet understand the priorities of the American people today. It was clear when I asked Director Nussle about why the President is proposing deep cuts to the Veterans' Administration construction budget when thousands of new veterans are entering the system every year.

We all remember what happened at Walter Reed a year ago, when it exposed the deplorable conditions at our VA facilities across this Nation, where we are sending those Iraqi war veterans and veterans from previous wars in horrible conditions. He stood with us and said we are going to fix this situation. Yet today, we get a budget that cuts the construction budget. How are we going to rebuild those facilities and make them into a place Americans can be proud of if the President doesn't ask for the money to do it? It was clear when Mr. Nussle refused to estimate the full cost of the Iraq war even for this year that they were not serious about this budget.

Just like any American family that is sitting down to balance its own checkbook, we are going to have some pretty tough decisions ahead in this Congress. We have to do it now. We have to be honest about what our obligations are and the expenses we face. It is time we take stock of our finances and get our books back in order. We have to invest in the priorities of America's families, and it is going to take a true commitment, but that is certainly something the President's budget failed to do.

We need an economic plan that works for everyone in this country. We need the economic stimulus package that we are trying to get passed that the Finance Committee did an excellent job in the Senate to put forward that will help provide short-term economic stimulus that is dramatically needed. Beyond that, we need a budget that invests in the American people and their priorities so our families can begin to feel strong once again. That is how we are going to get this economy moving.

It is time for a change, and I am looking forward to getting it started now.

I yield the floor.

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