Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2009 -- Continued

Floor Speech

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009--Continued -- (Senate - March 13, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to support the Biden/Lugar amendment that restores the full amount of the President's request for the international affairs budget.

While American military engagement overseas is at an all time high, the strength of our ideas, diplomacy, generosity, and values is at an all time low.

For example, America's lead development agency, the U.S. Agency for International Development, at one point in its history had more than 5000 full time foreign service officers working on health, education, agricultural, and political development around the world.

Yet today, while engaged in a global war of ideas and values, USAID has only 1000 foreign service officers. Its budget in real dollars has been cut by 27 percent from a high in the 1980s.

Similarly, the Peace Corps, one of our most successful programs at both sharing American values and assistance while also exposing our young people to the peoples and cultures of other worlds, has seen its budget in real dollars cut by almost 40 percent since its inception in 1967.

At a time when more and more failed states are in need of international peacekeeping missions, the United States is more than $700 million in arrears in U.N. peacekeeping dues.

Tragically, we have all become more aware of what dangers failed states pose and what misery they bring to their own people.

These stark shortcomings in American nonmilitary engagement overseas--our smart power--not only threaten our own security, but also who we are as a nation and how we are viewed abroad.

Defense Secretary Gates and many former military officers have spoken publicly about the need for a greater emphasis on American smart power. They recognize that our diplomatic, development, and economic engagement around the world not only lift the lives of others but also make us safer at home.

These investments in bringing stability, maternal and child survival programs, clean water and sanitation, economic development, and sustainable democratic institutions and processes cost a fraction of potential military engagement.

This amendment will not address all our international engagement needs and challenges--that will only happen when we take such steps as closing Guantanamo, unequivocally renouncing torture, and taking responsibility for our contribution to global warming--but the amendment is an important step in the right direction.

Finally, I want to emphasize the importance of America's continued generosity in funding programs to fight HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, diseases that kill over 6 million people each year.

Through its contribution to the global fund, the U.S. has helped save almost 2 million lives in over 100 countries during the last 5 years. This highly successful program, which uses contributions from around the world and works directly with individual country's health care providers and organizations, is a leading force for the fight against disease, improving the lives of others, and improving America's image around the world.

I believe America must work to meet a full one-third contribution to the fund's efforts and I hope funds from this amendment can help meet this important goal.

I similarly urge the Senate to support the upcoming reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, commonly known as PEPFAR. The President deserves credit for supporting this effort--an effort that should be continued.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am proud to support the Democratic budget that Chairman Conrad and the Budget Committee have so ably put together. This budget lowers taxes, and it creates or maintains nearly a half million good-paying jobs here at home.

In contrast, the Bush-Republican budget that the President proposed last month promotes the same tired old ideas that got us into this fiscal mess in the first place--ideas that have weakened the economy and hurt America's middle class.

A budget is an expression of values: you choose what to spend your money on and you choose how much of it to spend now instead of later.

As families across America sit down at the kitchen table to create their own family budgets, they decide what they have to pay for now--the house, the tuition, the heating bills, the gas for the car--and then how much they can spend on other things without going too far into debt.

Creating a budget for the Federal Government is very similar. This week the Senate will decide what we have to pay for now--housing, education, energy, and infrastructure--and what we cannot afford without further burdening our children with our bills.

The Democratic budget recognizes that one of the key elements of the American economy--the housing market--is in very serious trouble, the worst we have experienced since the Great Depression.

For most families, the largest monthly expense is the mortgage or the rent, and as the housing market crumbles, increasing numbers of families are struggling to pay that bill. Our budget takes steps to support the families struggling in this housing market as well as the communities that are coping with this crisis.

Our budget allows for the four main appropriations within the Foreclosure Prevention Act, a bill the Senate attempted to debate a couple of weeks ago. We allocate funding for Community Development Block Grants, housing counselors, mortgage revenue bonds, and net operating loss carrybacks.

The Republicans filibustered that bill. Every Republican but one stated very clearly that they do not even think the housing crisis is important enough for the Senate to talk about. The Democrats are proving with this budget that we think it is time to act.

The simple fact is that our economy will not fully recover until we address the primary cause of this economic crisis. If families can't keep a roof over their heads, they aren't going to produce much for the economy or buy enough to keep the economy growing.

The Democrats will try again to pass this housing bill when we return to Washington after the recess, and I hope that our Republican friends will join us in that effort. This bill will help over 600,000 families avoid foreclosure nationwide--28,000 families in Illinois.

The housing crisis goes beyond just those families that are in danger of losing their homes. As property and sales taxes flatten when the economy slows down, local governments are stretched thin. It is more important than ever for the Federal Government to support community development programs that provide funding for critical local housing programs.

The Democratic budget includes an inflation-adjusted increase of $68 million for community development. Compare that to the President's budget. The Bush-Republican budget requested a $932 million cut in community development funding.

Under the President's budget, my home State of Illinois would lose over $40 million in Community Development Block Grants compared with this year, which would have meant that funding would be slashed for housing counseling, abandoned property maintenance, upgrading low-income housing, and many other critical programs--just as communities need funding for these initiatives most.

The Democratic budget says no to the President, and instead increases this vital community funding. We must help stabilize the housing market in order to help our economy grow, and this Democratic budget will help us do just that.

With the economy slowing and the unemployment rate creeping higher, we need to provide workers with the best retraining opportunities that we can right now. In the long term, America can only compete effectively in the global economy if we develop the best workers in the world. The Democratic budget recognizes both of these realities. The Bush-Republican budget recognizes neither.

Overall, the Democratic budget provides an additional $8.8 billion above the President's request for training and education. Workers who are trying to learn new skills and parents who are trying to pay tuition bills will all benefit from the investments made by the Democrats in this budget.

The budget allows for $414 million in job training, which will help 165,000 workers build the skills they need to compete in the economy of the 21st century.

For many working Americans worried about their current jobs and for at least some of the 1.3 million Americans who have been looking for work for longer than 6 months, this funding will provide a little hope, a little help towards a better job in the future. For students, the resolution provides an additional $5.4 billion for the Department of Education, which funds Head Start, No Child Left Behind, and Pell Grants to make a quality education more accessible to students of all ages.

Compare that to the Bush-Republican budget. The impact of the Bush-Republican budget on education in my home State of Illinois would be severe. Mr. President, 119,871 Illinois elementary and high school students would be left without the full services promised by No Child Left Behind. Nearly 90,000 Illinois students would be hurt by the President's decision to eliminate Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Leveraging Education Assistance Partnerships, and Federal Perkins Loans.

Mr. President, 10,000 Illinois students would no longer have a safe place to go after school thanks to the President's proposed cuts to afterschool programs.

The Democratic budget supports the workers of today and tomorrow. The Bush-Republican budget cares about neither.

To create good jobs in America we must invest in industries that promise growth in the short and the long term. Green-collar jobs--which help America reduce its dependence on foreign oil and push us down the path of energy independence--represent perhaps the best opportunity for meaningful job creation for millions of Americans over time.

The Democratic budget focuses on these jobs by allocating $8.45 billion towards clean energy and another $2.7 billion specifically towards green-collar jobs. This funding will support weatherizing homes and office buildings, investing in battery research and development, developing wind and biofuel power generation, and much more. And all of those jobs can be created here at home.

The Bush-Republican budget? It has a 7-percent reduction in solar energy research, a 27-percent cut in energy efficiency programs, a 79-percent cut in weatherization programs, ``intergovernmental'' programs to help local and State governments become more energy efficient, and a reneging on the earlier commitment for the FutureGen clean coal energy program in Mattoon, IL.

The Democrats believe that green-collar jobs should be the centerpiece of our economy. President Bush and the Republicans apparently do not.

Our budget also provides other forms of critical energy assistance at a time when the price of oil has reached $110 per barrel. The Democratic budget provides $2.5 billion for families who are struggling to heat their homes, $500 million more than the President's request.

The Bush-Republican budget proposes to cut LIHEAP funding by $359 million. In Illinois, 15,000 low-income families and seniors would lose heating assistance.

That is unacceptable. The Democratic budget invests properly in the energy needs of the country, which supports the long-term strength of the economy and the short-term needs of the people who need it most.

The Democratic budget would create nearly 500,000 good-paying jobs here at home, including nearly 20,000 in Illinois. How? By investing in our infrastructure.

The general rule of thumb in the transportation infrastructure industry is that for every $1 billion invested in roads, bridges, airports, and the like, around 47,500 jobs are created. The Democratic budget invests over $10 billion more than the Bush-Republican budget in rebuilding our infrastructure, which is good for short-term economic vitality and for longer term economic strength.

The demand for this funding is readily apparent, from the bridge disaster in Minneapolis last year to the crumbling roadways in Illinois and throughout the country. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials reported last month that $18 billion worth of infrastructure projects were ready to go in 46 States and the District of Columbia, including 212 projects worth $831 million in Illinois. These projects are already designed and approved, and construction work could begin within 90 days from the moment that Federal funding was provided.

The Democratic budget would give the go-ahead to put Americans to work on many of these jobs. The Bush-Republican budget would not.

Overall, the Democratic budget lowers taxes and balances the budget by 2012.

Including Senator Baucus's amendment, which I support, middle class Americans would benefit from the extension of the alternative minimum tax patch, which will spare 20 million middle-class Americans from paying the AMT this year: the child tax credit; marriage penalty relief; the adoption credit; and the 10 percent tax bracket.

The Bush-Republican budget, on the other hand, would extend tax breaks that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy. Households with annual incomes over $1 million would save more than $150,000 a year in tax cuts from the Bush-Republican budget, on average.

Although this group makes up just 0.3 percent of the Nation's households, its combined tax cuts would exceed the entire amount that the Federal Government spends on elementary and secondary education, or the entire amount that we devote to medical care for our veterans. That certainly doesn't reflect this Senators' priorities, and I don't think that reflects the priorities of most Americans either.

Perhaps most importantly, the Democratic budget funds America's economic priorities wisely, without running up more debts that our children will be forced to pay. Our budget balances by 2012.

The Bush-Republican fiscal record is far less sensible.

Seven years ago, President Bush inherited the largest budget surplus in our Nation's history. Since that time, when both Houses of Congress were mostly controlled by Republican majorities, Federal spending has increased by over 50 percent. The Federal debt has grown by over $3 trillion.

Enough is enough. It is time to manage the Federal budget like adults.

It is time to manage the budget more like families must manage their own finances every month around the kitchen table-- pay for what you must, and don't spend what you can't afford. It is time to pass a budget like the Democratic resolution we have before us.

I urge my colleagues to do so.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am proud to support the Democratic budget that Chairman Conrad and the Budget Committee have so ably put together. This budget lowers taxes, and it creates or maintains nearly a half million good-paying jobs here at home.

In contrast, the Bush-Republican budget that the President proposed last month promotes the same tired old ideas that got us into this fiscal mess in the first place--ideas that have weakened the economy and hurt America's middle class.

A budget is an expression of values: you choose what to spend your money on and you choose how much of it to spend now instead of later.

As families across America sit down at the kitchen table to create their own family budgets, they decide what they have to pay for now--the house, the tuition, the heating bills, the gas for the car--and then how much they can spend on other things without going too far into debt.

Creating a budget for the Federal Government is very similar. This week the Senate will decide what we have to pay for now--housing, education, energy, and infrastructure--and what we cannot afford without further burdening our children with our bills.

The Democratic budget recognizes that one of the key elements of the American economy--the housing market--is in very serious trouble, the worst we have experienced since the Great Depression.

For most families, the largest monthly expense is the mortgage or the rent, and as the housing market crumbles, increasing numbers of families are struggling to pay that bill. Our budget takes steps to support the families struggling in this housing market as well as the communities that are coping with this crisis.

Our budget allows for the four main appropriations within the Foreclosure Prevention Act, a bill the Senate attempted to debate a couple of weeks ago. We allocate funding for Community Development Block Grants, housing counselors, mortgage revenue bonds, and net operating loss carrybacks.

The Republicans filibustered that bill. Every Republican but one stated very clearly that they do not even think the housing crisis is important enough for the Senate to talk about. The Democrats are proving with this budget that we think it is time to act.

The simple fact is that our economy will not fully recover until we address the primary cause of this economic crisis. If families can't keep a roof over their heads, they aren't going to produce much for the economy or buy enough to keep the economy growing.

The Democrats will try again to pass this housing bill when we return to Washington after the recess, and I hope that our Republican friends will join us in that effort. This bill will help over 600,000 families avoid foreclosure nationwide--28,000 families in Illinois.

The housing crisis goes beyond just those families that are in danger of losing their homes. As property and sales taxes flatten when the economy slows down, local governments are stretched thin. It is more important than ever for the Federal Government to support community development programs that provide funding for critical local housing programs.

The Democratic budget includes an inflation-adjusted increase of $68 million for community development. Compare that to the President's budget. The Bush-Republican budget requested a $932 million cut in community development funding.

Under the President's budget, my home State of Illinois would lose over $40 million in Community Development Block Grants compared with this year, which would have meant that funding would be slashed for housing counseling, abandoned property maintenance, upgrading low-income housing, and many other critical programs--just as communities need funding for these initiatives most.

The Democratic budget says no to the President, and instead increases this vital community funding. We must help stabilize the housing market in order to help our economy grow, and this Democratic budget will help us do just that.

With the economy slowing and the unemployment rate creeping higher, we need to provide workers with the best retraining opportunities that we can right now. In the long term, America can only compete effectively in the global economy if we develop the best workers in the world. The Democratic budget recognizes both of these realities. The Bush-Republican budget recognizes neither.

Overall, the Democratic budget provides an additional $8.8 billion above the President's request for training and education. Workers who are trying to learn new skills and parents who are trying to pay tuition bills will all benefit from the investments made by the Democrats in this budget.

The budget allows for $414 million in job training, which will help 165,000 workers build the skills they need to compete in the economy of the 21st century.

For many working Americans worried about their current jobs and for at least some of the 1.3 million Americans who have been looking for work for longer than 6 months, this funding will provide a little hope, a little help towards a better job in the future. For students, the resolution provides an additional $5.4 billion for the Department of Education, which funds Head Start, No Child Left Behind, and Pell Grants to make a quality education more accessible to students of all ages.

Compare that to the Bush-Republican budget. The impact of the Bush-Republican budget on education in my home State of Illinois would be severe. Mr. President, 119,871 Illinois elementary and high school students would be left without the full services promised by No Child Left Behind. Nearly 90,000 Illinois students would be hurt by the President's decision to eliminate Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Leveraging Education Assistance Partnerships, and Federal Perkins Loans.

Mr. President, 10,000 Illinois students would no longer have a safe place to go after school thanks to the President's proposed cuts to afterschool programs.

The Democratic budget supports the workers of today and tomorrow. The Bush-Republican budget cares about neither.

To create good jobs in America we must invest in industries that promise growth in the short and the long term. Green-collar jobs--which help America reduce its dependence on foreign oil and push us down the path of energy independence--represent perhaps the best opportunity for meaningful job creation for millions of Americans over time.

The Democratic budget focuses on these jobs by allocating $8.45 billion towards clean energy and another $2.7 billion specifically towards green-collar jobs. This funding will support weatherizing homes and office buildings, investing in battery research and development, developing wind and biofuel power generation, and much more. And all of those jobs can be created here at home.

The Bush-Republican budget? It has a 7-percent reduction in solar energy research, a 27-percent cut in energy efficiency programs, a 79-percent cut in weatherization programs, ``intergovernmental'' programs to help local and State governments become more energy efficient, and a reneging on the earlier commitment for the FutureGen clean coal energy program in Mattoon, IL.

The Democrats believe that green-collar jobs should be the centerpiece of our economy. President Bush and the Republicans apparently do not.

Our budget also provides other forms of critical energy assistance at a time when the price of oil has reached $110 per barrel. The Democratic budget provides $2.5 billion for families who are struggling to heat their homes, $500 million more than the President's request.

The Bush-Republican budget proposes to cut LIHEAP funding by $359 million. In Illinois, 15,000 low-income families and seniors would lose heating assistance.

That is unacceptable. The Democratic budget invests properly in the energy needs of the country, which supports the long-term strength of the economy and the short-term needs of the people who need it most.

The Democratic budget would create nearly 500,000 good-paying jobs here at home, including nearly 20,000 in Illinois. How? By investing in our infrastructure.

The general rule of thumb in the transportation infrastructure industry is that for every $1 billion invested in roads, bridges, airports, and the like, around 47,500 jobs are created. The Democratic budget invests over $10 billion more than the Bush-Republican budget in rebuilding our infrastructure, which is good for short-term economic vitality and for longer term economic strength.

The demand for this funding is readily apparent, from the bridge disaster in Minneapolis last year to the crumbling roadways in Illinois and throughout the country. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials reported last month that $18 billion worth of infrastructure projects were ready to go in 46 States and the District of Columbia, including 212 projects worth $831 million in Illinois. These projects are already designed and approved, and construction work could begin within 90 days from the moment that Federal funding was provided.

The Democratic budget would give the go-ahead to put Americans to work on many of these jobs. The Bush-Republican budget would not.

Overall, the Democratic budget lowers taxes and balances the budget by 2012.

Including Senator Baucus's amendment, which I support, middle class Americans would benefit from the extension of the alternative minimum tax patch, which will spare 20 million middle-class Americans from paying the AMT this year: the child tax credit; marriage penalty relief; the adoption credit; and the 10 percent tax bracket.

The Bush-Republican budget, on the other hand, would extend tax breaks that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy. Households with annual incomes over $1 million would save more than $150,000 a year in tax cuts from the Bush-Republican budget, on average.

Although this group makes up just 0.3 percent of the Nation's households, its combined tax cuts would exceed the entire amount that the Federal Government spends on elementary and secondary education, or the entire amount that we devote to medical care for our veterans. That certainly doesn't reflect this Senators' priorities, and I don't think that reflects the priorities of most Americans either.

Perhaps most importantly, the Democratic budget funds America's economic priorities wisely, without running up more debts that our children will be forced to pay. Our budget balances by 2012.

The Bush-Republican fiscal record is far less sensible.

Seven years ago, President Bush inherited the largest budget surplus in our Nation's history. Since that time, when both Houses of Congress were mostly controlled by Republican majorities, Federal spending has increased by over 50 percent. The Federal debt has grown by over $3 trillion.

Enough is enough. It is time to manage the Federal budget like adults.

It is time to manage the budget more like families must manage their own finances every month around the kitchen table-- pay for what you must, and don't spend what you can't afford. It is time to pass a budget like the Democratic resolution we have before us.

I urge my colleagues to do so.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

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