Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2010--Continued

Floor Speech

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010--Continued -- (Senate - March 31, 2009)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of the underlying budget resolution we are considering this week. I first want to thank Chairman Conrad for all of his leadership and for the good work he and his staff have put into developing this budget resolution.

In November, the American people chose a new direction. That is what President Obama and this 111th Congress are working to deliver. I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish so far: an economic recovery package that is already putting Americans back to work and investing in our communities; a children's health insurance bill that expands access to health insurance to 4 million children who will now be able to receive health care services no matter what the circumstances their families face; the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which ensures that all Americans are paid the same regardless of age, gender, race, or ethnicity; a national service bill that taps into the strong desire of Americans to do their part to help our country recover and prosper through voluntarism; a public lands bill, which is the most significant conservation legislation passed by Congress in 15 years.

We are off to a good start, but we all know we still have a lot of challenges to tackle. We have inherited the worst economic crisis in generations, and we need to get our economy back on track. That means finally addressing challenges that have been ignored for far too long. We have the opportunity to begin this process now by passing a comprehensive and sensible budget to guide our next year.

I support the priorities that President Obama has set out for the budget. Like the President, I believe we must reform our health care system. We must move our country toward energy independence. We must expand the promise of education. We must cut our national deficit in half over the next 4 years.

Right now, we spend 16 percent of the national gross domestic product on a health care system that is broken. This is the time--especially now--when we need to reform health care to bring down costs, expand coverage, and improve the quality of the health care coverage that we all receive.

Our Nation can save billions of dollars through health information technology. I am pleased this budget that we are considering builds on the funding in the economic recovery package that has been dedicated to modernizing health care through the use of electronic medical records.

This budget also makes a significant investment in comparative effectiveness research. It is a long name, but what it essentially means is that we need to look at what is working in health care for the least cost, the research on which Dartmouth College in my home State of New Hampshire has been working hard. The Dartmouth Atlas Project has done some of the best research into looking at what is most effective for health care procedures and remedies in the country.

On energy, we all know our national energy strategy has been on an unsustainable course for a very long time. We are overly dependent on foreign oil, and we must begin to address the threats of climate change.

These challenges call for a paradigm shift in the way we produce and use energy. I am pleased the budget we are considering makes investments in clean energy technology, energy efficiency, and recognizes that we have to modernize our energy infrastructure. I believe these investments in clean energy will create new green-collar jobs at home that will save consumers money.

We also have to invest in education so our children can compete in this global economy. Senator Menendez talked about that very eloquently a little while ago when he talked about his experiences.

I am one of those kids, too, who, without a public system of higher education, would not have been able to go to college. That is why I am pleased the budget resolution we are considering expands opportunities for students to go to college--to go to college and to graduate--because it increases Pell grants to $5,550 per student and provides education tax incentives for families.

This budget also recognizes the critical importance of the early years in a child's life by providing significant support for early childhood education and title I programs. The long-term strength of our economy is dependent on each of these issues--education, health care, and energy policy. We need to act now to make critical investments to stimulate the economy in the short term. But we also have to do this in a fiscally responsible way that puts us on a path toward reducing our deficit. The budget deficit has been growing for 8 years. This President and this Congress inherited a debt and deficit that are at record highs. We are not going to erase these deficits and debt overnight. But we can work toward significantly cutting the deficit over the next few years. The budget that has been laid out by Senator Conrad and the Budget Committee puts us on an aggressive course toward a balanced budget.

Spending nearly doubled under the previous administration, and revenues have now fallen to the lowest level as a share of our economy since 1950. The Obama administration inherited these record deficits and a national debt that doubled during the 8 years of the Bush administration.

This Congress, this President, and this budget are reversing course and putting our country back on a path to a balanced budget. This budget cuts the deficit by two-thirds by 2014. At the same time, it makes wise investments that will lead to economic growth in the future.

As a former Governor, I understand how important and difficult it is to balance the budget. It takes a lot of hard work, patience, and compromise.

I never expected the New Hampshire State Legislature to rubberstamp my budget when I submitted it. I knew it would change to reflect the interests and priorities of legislators, and that is exactly what is happening in Congress. But I also understand this Congress is going to send a budget back to the President that I believe will contain those priorities that the President supports and that we support as Members of Congress.

Mr. President, I also want to speak about an amendment I intend to offer this week. My amendment is No. 776. It is simple and straightforward. It would establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund to monitor FHA-approved loans. We have to remember that one of the things that got us into this economic mess is what happened in the housing market. Unfortunately, we need to make sure that doesn't continue to happen going forward.

The Federal Housing Administration is playing an increasingly critical role in promoting home ownership during these tough economic times. The FHA now insures about one-third of all new mortgages.

In the runup to the subprime crisis, many fraudulent lenders pushed borrowers into mortgages and refinancing that they could not afford just to collect commissions and fees. We need to make sure we prevent that from migrating now to federally insured loans, which would put taxpayers at risk of footing the bill for another bailout.

The amendment I am going to offer addresses the need for HUD--Housing and Urban Development--to be able to properly investigate and remove fraudulent lenders from the program whenever they deem it appropriate.

As I said, I am confident that we will be able to pass a budget that invests in the future of America. I am hopeful all of our colleagues will join in that effort because I think it is important to strengthen the middle class, restore fiscal discipline, and make the investments that we need to make to ensure that this country is going to continue to be strong and competitive in the future.

I urge my colleagues to support the 2010 budget resolution, and I hope they will also support the amendment I am offering to address potential fraud in the FHA housing market.

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

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