Statement of The Hon. Rosa L. DeLauro on the President's Budget

Statement of The Hon. Rosa L. DeLauro on the President's Budget

Washington, DC-Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement today in response to the President's FY05 budget proposal.

"It is difficult to understand how the President could create a budget that adds $521 billion to the deficit, yet fails to meet the needs of American families who are struggling to make a living in this economy. His budget shortchangess education, health care, transportation, and other important priorities. It makes permanent ill-considered tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. It does all this while continuing to deny the child tax credit to families earning between $10,500 and $26,625 per year-including a million military and veteran families-the very ones who need it most and who were deliberately left out of last year's tax bill.

"Furthermore, the $521 billion deficit in this budget climbs even higher when the full cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are included - proposals the president also left out intentionally. This will force further cutbacks in public education, health care, environmental protection and funding for our beleaguered small businesses.

"I support the proposal to buy 36 Sikorsky Aircraft helicopters and provide $1.2 billion for continued development of the Comanche Helicopter, which is good news for Connecticut's manufacturers and workers. But overall, this budget does not do enough to address the realities that have resulted in nearly 3 million jobs lost under this Administration.
"This budget fails the test to advance America's national interests - the ultimate test for all of us in public office."