The Budget

Floor Speech

THE BUDGET -- (Senate - May 21, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I thank my colleague, the chair of the Budget Committee. He has done an amazing job putting together a budget of which we can all be very proud.

For the last 7 1/2 years, the current administration has really mismanaged our economy and failed to make the kinds of investments that keep our country strong. We all know American families have really paid the price. We have gone from a budget surplus to a record deficit, our infrastructure is crumbling, and our economy is now nearing a recession, if we are not already there. So as we finalize this year's budget, we have to ensure that we are investing in our future and addressing our country's real priorities.

It seems that every day the news we hear gets worse about job loss, about skyrocketing gas prices, about the number of families who risk losing their homes in the mortgage crisis. And in the eighth and final budget this President has sent to us, he has really sent us off on a fiscally irresponsible path. He has given us a dishonest budget that fails to own up to the true cost of the war, and it will require us to borrow billions of dollars from foreign governments to meet our expenses.

I want to give a few examples of how out of touch President Bush's budget is.

People today are struggling to pay for heat and rent. Yet President Bush sent us a budget that proposed to cut low-income heating assistance and housing and neighborhood revitalization programs, such as section 8 and CDBG, right when our constituents are fighting so hard to pay their mortgages to make sure they stay in their homes.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating thousands of new veterans every single year, many of them, as we know, with severe injuries and specialized needs. But President Bush sent us a budget that cut critical programs at the VA, including medical research and State extended-care facilities.

More than 1 million people are going to lose their jobs this year. What did President Bush do in his budget proposal? He cut $484 million from critical workforce training programs.

Health care continues to be out of reach for millions of Americans who don't have insurance or, in some cases, don't have access to doctors or nurses. Yet the President sent us a budget that freezes Medicare reimbursement levels for our hospitals and hospices, for our ambulance services, long-term care facilities, and he decimated funding for training programs for our health care professionals.

It is past time that this administration joined with the majority in Congress and the majority of people in this country to make America's families, the working families, our first priority.

The budget conference resolution makes responsible choices that will help get our economy rolling again and invest in our country's real priorities. With this budget which will be before the Senate shortly, Democrats are investing in programs that help families meet expenses and get ahead, things such as schools and health care and job training. Our budget makes up for President Bush's misguided proposals to flat line funding for education and rob students of the opportunities they need to get ahead.

We are restoring the vital funding the President has slashed from our Nation's job training programs to help youth and adult and dislocated workers get the skills they need so they can succeed in our global economy.

We are investing in health care by adding much needed funding for our health professions, the National Health Service Corps, our community health centers, and other programs that help to ensure Americans can see a doctor when they are sick.

We are ensuring our communities at home are safe by funding the homeland security grants and restoring cuts to local law enforcement programs.

Our budget fully funds the port security grants which the President proposed cutting in half. And it restores his dangerous proposal to cut almost $750 million from State homeland security programs and grants. Those are programs that help pay for security improvements, training, and equipment--all of the items that our first responders need so they can prepare for the worst in our communities at home.

Democrats are making critical investments in infrastructure in this budget which will help boost spending and create jobs, while making much needed repairs to our roads and our bridges. We are also preventing a projected shortfall in the highway trust fund so we can keep our commitment to States and communities and ensure that our roads, bridges, and highways are safe and up to date.

This budget ensures we are not turning our backs on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in my home State or the many other States in our nuclear complex where workers sacrificed to help make nuclear material during the Cold War. Hanford and other sites like it are still home to millions of gallons of nuclear waste and other dangerous material, and the Federal Government has to live up to its promise to clean them up. The longer we stretch it out, the more the cleanup is going to cost over the long run. The budget that will be before us reverses the trend of failing to invest, and it is a big step toward getting us back on schedule.

Finally, in this budget, we are doing the right thing for our veterans. The number of veterans is increasing every day, and the list of needed repairs and expanded facilities in the VA system is stacking up as well. But what does the administration send us? A budget that proposes new fees and increased copays that will essentially discourage millions of veterans from even accessing the VA. In his budget, the President also underfunded VA medical care, VA medical and prosthetic research, and he cut funding for major and minor construction by nearly 50 percent.

I have made it clear over the last several years that I believe denying access or discouraging veterans from seeking care because of their income is morally wrong, and I believe it will also make it harder in the long run for us to maintain a strong voluntary military. Democrats are making sure that we keep our promise to the men and women who have served us so bravely.

I thank our chairman, Senator Conrad, for his leadership and his tremendously hard work to get us to this point. I urge all of our colleagues to support this budget. This budget sets priorities and gives us critical direction as we begin the appropriations process. The American people desperately want us to take the steps that have been laid out in this budget. Our budget creates jobs, it rebuilds our roads and our bridges, it cares for our veterans, it invests in education, it helps our families meet their basic needs, and it gets us to surplus by 2012. After years of this President's unrealistic policies, Democrats with this budget are making sure that working families are again priority No. 1.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

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