Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2009

Floor Speech

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to support the Fiscal Year 2009 Democratic Budget Resolutions.

Once again this year, the President's budget proposal made a number of cynical choices and cut or eliminated programs that make a real difference in people's lives. The President's budget calls for more than $1 trillion in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans over 10 years at the expense of vital domestic programs that benefit millions of people. The President's cuts include $479 billion of Medicare cuts, and $94 billion in cuts to Medicaid over 10 years; more than $18 billion over 5 years in new fees for veterans and military retirees; cuts to EPA grants that help protect public health and maintain environmental quality; and the elimination of several state and local law enforcement programs, including Byrne Grants and COPS funding.

The President has already taken a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion and turned it into a $3.2 trillion deficit. Now the President wants to slash funding for crucial domestic programs while he continues to spend $10.3 billion a month for the war in Iraq--a war that has already cost more than $495 billion and which may cost more than $3 trillion by the end of our involvement. This war has cost Americans far too much--most importantly, in terms of lives.

The President's budget also misses the boat by choosing not to fund programs which would stimulate economic growth and benefit all Americans. For example, the President's budget does not include much-needed increases for things such as rehabilitating our Nation's crumbling schools and highways, securing our ports, investing in renewable energy, and helping lower the cost of healthcare for millions of children and seniors. And I was also dismayed to see the number of cuts in the President's budget that come at the expense of our Nation's poorest citizens. To cite just one example, the budget eliminates the Community Services Block Grants which reduce poverty and provide assistance for individuals dealing with housing, health, nutrition, energy, and substance abuse problems.

I am proud that the Democratic budget resolutions restore sanity to our Nation's fiscal policy. Our budget increases veterans funding for 2009 by $3.6 billion (8 percent) above current services; provides additional resources to address long-standing domestic priorities within a fiscally responsible framework, including increased funding for scientific innovation and energy initiatives, and education, training, and social services; and it rejects the President's proposed cuts, including cuts to environmental protection, first responders, and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. It also makes room for the expansion of children's health insurance coverage, and includes reforms to improve Medicare for beneficiaries and reforms of the Higher Education Act to make college more affordable.

H. Con. Res. 312 is not perfect. I wish it included less spending on unnecessary, outdated weapons programs, and more spending on domestic priorities for relief for the millions of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet amidst higher energy, healthcare, and food costs; and for the people in our society who need the most help. However, I am grateful to Chairman Spratt for crafting a budget that rejects the President's cuts.

I am also proud to support the Congressional Progressive Caucus substitute, which provides over $550 billion for domestic non-military discretionary spending in FY09--over $130 billion above President's request--to restore the President's harmful cuts. This budget contains a second economic stimulus package that would include an extension of unemployment insurance, an increase in assistance for food stamps, Medicare payments to states, and foreclosure relief, as well as over $300 billion to rebuild our Nation's crumbling schools and roads. It also provides $1.22 trillion to cut the poverty rate in half over the next decade, starting with redress and reconstruction for Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina. It does this by cutting down on waste, fraud in the Pentagon and by eliminating certain cold war weapons systems; as well by closing egregious corporate tax loopholes and rolling back the President's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Mr. Chairman, the President's last budget is no more than a sad continuation of his failed fiscal policies. I'd like to thank Chairman Spratt once again for all of his hard work on the budget, and am proud to stand with my Democratic colleagues to support a budget that rejects the President's cuts and reinvests in our domestic priorities.

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