The Budget

Floor Speech

THE BUDGET -- (Senate - March 17, 2009)

Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Chair.

Madam President, for years, we have talked about the fact that the annual budget process is the truest test of priorities that the President and Congress engage in. For years, I was concerned about the last administration's budgets, and I was very vocal about that--too little investment in America, too many gimmicks, and too much focus on the few and not the many. It was those budgets and the policies they imposed that led us to the challenges we are now facing.

President Obama inherited huge problems not of his own making. That is why his first budget blueprint is such a breath of fresh air. President Obama's budget is both a statement of priorities and a test of our commitment to making our country stronger for all Americans.

Our Nation faces serious challenges now, but it is not a time to shy away from the investments that will ensure our prosperity and our competitiveness in the future. His budget builds the foundation that will make America stronger by investing in health care, energy independence, and education. The President inherited an economic recession and staggering deficits. The shortsighted budgets and policies of the past have left our infrastructure crumbling, our education system falling behind, and the debt of war in the pockets of our grandchildren.

There is no doubt we have to take some serious steps to dig out of this hole. President Obama's budget takes steps to cut our deficit in half and to restore fairness to our tax system. Importantly, after 8 years of gimmicks, this budget is transparent and tells the American people exactly where we are spending our money. The President accounts for war spending and leaves room for natural disasters or other emergencies we might face.

The President has been honest about the challenges that face this country, and now he is being honest about where we need to invest. He has warned Congress and the American people about the sacrifice we all have to make to move our country forward, and they are many. But he has also been clear that now is the time to continue to invest in health care and energy and education reform to ensure our long-term strength and prosperity.

I come to the floor today to talk specifically about the need to invest in education. Investing in education is one of the most certain ways we can create jobs and strengthen our economy well into the future. Education means economic recovery, and in this global economy a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity, it is a prerequisite for success. Ensuring quality education for every American is essential to our future as a nation.

The President and this Congress made a downpayment on that commitment in the Economic Recovery Act we passed last month. That bill meant help for students in Washington State--my State--who are struggling to afford and attend college and students across the country. It means serving more K-12 students' needs. It means the ability to restore the education cuts our States are facing. It means keeping teachers in their jobs and our class sizes down.

Those investments we made in the economic recovery package are going to not only help create jobs, they are going to help our teachers and our parents in our communities keep their jobs while they modernize education for today's students. Those students are going to be tomorrow's highly skilled workforce, so we need to make this investment to stay strong as a nation. That economic recovery bill made a downpayment on our students' future. The next step we have to take is our budget, to help improve education for our kids and for all.

The budget we are going to be seeing puts a long-needed emphasis on preparing students for the jobs of today and tomorrow, with the focus on science, math and technology skills and equipment. It focuses on 21st century skills and early childhood education. It talks about career and technical education and accessing and affording higher education, which includes 2-year colleges and technical training.

So let me talk a minute about the budget and its details. The budget creates a 0-to-5 plan, which will continue to increase funding for Head Start, Early Head Start, and the child care development block grants. It encourages State and local investment in early education to help get information to parents about quality child care programs, including important home visiting programs for parents with young children.

The budget will make important investments in preparing and supporting great teachers and school leaders for our schools. It will allow students to achieve their college dream by making critical funding to raise the Pell grant in this time of need, and it continues the new American Opportunity Tax Credit, which will help families across the Nation afford tuition.

The budget also makes a 5-year, $2.5 billion investment in a new Access and Completion Incentive Fund to ensure that low-income students complete college. We know that only about 50 percent of our students who start a college education in this country complete it. We have to do a lot better than that because almost all of our good-paying jobs today require a credential beyond high school.

I come to the floor today to say that now is not a time to sit back and just worry. Now is a time to be bold and make the critical investments in our country that are so long overdue. Nowhere is this clearer than in education. I applaud the President for making his commitment clear, and I pledge to work with him and every one of my colleagues who are willing to ensure that ours becomes the greatest education system in the world.

Now let me say a word about some of the criticism we have been hearing from our friends on the other side of the aisle. I have heard a lot of talk about this budget ``taxing'' too much. Well, they must be reading a different budget than I am. President Obama's budget would not raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans. I think that is important, so let me say it again. Ninety-five percent of Americans will not see their taxes raised under this plan. In fact, too much of the tax burden in this country is being borne today by our working families, and President Obama is working hard to fix that. Nine of ten working families will see their taxes go down with his budget plan.

The President's Making Work Pay credit--$400 for individuals and $800 for families--is extended under his budget plan. That credit cuts taxes for 95 percent of our working families. It cuts taxes for 95 percent of our working families.

The American Opportunity Education Tax Credit is going to help our families pay for college by providing a $2,500 credit to offset the cost of tuition and related expenses, and it makes the credit partially refundable.

Finally, the budget increases eligibility for the refundable portion of the child credit.

Those are just three ways this administration is focusing on tax relief for those who need it most--our working families. So while we are hearing a lot--and we will continue to hear a lot, no doubt--from our friends on the other side about ``taxing'' too much, it is important that we all look at the facts and not buy into the rhetoric.

After 8 long years of budgets that left our American families behind, I look forward to working with President Obama and a bipartisan group in Congress to move forward and invest in the future strength of this Nation. We have a lot of great challenges ahead, but I believe we can and we will overcome them by working together, making some tough choices, and investing in the best resource we have--the American people.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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