Concurrent Resolution of the Budget for Fiscal Year 2006 -- Conference Report

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006--CONFERENCE REPORT -- (Senate - April 28, 2005)

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, tonight families in my home State of Washington and across the country are concerned. They are concerned about the security of their jobs, their communities, access to affordable health care, and a quality education. Unfortunately, rather than inspiring confidence, the budget we will vote on tonight leaves too many Americans questioning their future. On issue after issue, this budget falls short of what our communities and our country need to move forward.

I have served on the Budget Committee for 12 years. I have served through recessions. I have served through economic expansion. I have served during periods of record surpluses and record deficits. I know what responsible budgets look like because I have worked with chairmen of both parties to create them. Unfortunately, the budget that is before us tonight, the Republican budget, fails to create jobs, improve security, and meet our country's needs.

I am particularly concerned that this budget agreement, of which I am a conference member, was reached behind closed doors with just one party in the room. The Republicans control Congress, but that does not mean that half the country has lost its voice or that the majority has carte blanche to make decisions that affect our families and communities across the country.

This is becoming an all-too-common tactic of this majority party today. We have seen it with the power grab that seeks to undermine the Constitution and minority rights on our judicial nominations. While simultaneously moving toward breaking Senate rules, the needs of the American people are being ignored by shortchanging them with a pathetic budget that fails to protect our Nation's priorities or to fulfill our commitment to our children, to our seniors, to our veterans.

One powerful example of how this power grab will hurt the most vulnerable is the billions of dollars this budget cuts from Medicaid. At a time when my State of Washington and other States are struggling to meet their health care costs, we should not be in this Chamber playing games with a program that helps ensure coverage to our most vulnerable residents. The guarantee of health insurance that Medicaid provides is a solemn commitment.

In March, a bipartisan majority of the Senate voted to strike the President's dangerous cuts to Medicaid, and just yesterday the House of Representatives too said no to the cuts. But tonight, ignoring the wishes of the majority of Americans and ignoring the wishes of both Houses of Congress, here we are voting on a budget that includes those exact dangerous and shortsighted cuts. As more and more working families struggle to pay for health care without the benefit of insurance, Congress has a responsibility to protect safety nets like Medicaid, not tear them down.

Those cuts--and this budget--are both irresponsible and they are wrong.

This budget offers too little help for families in Washington State. My State has struggled over the past few years to get back on its feet. But this budget doesn't give Washington State families the support they deserve as they work hard to turn our economy around and build for the future.

People in Washington State deserve a real Federal commitment as they work to create jobs, provide health care, and improve security and transportation. On the issues important to my State, this budget comes up short.

Not only is this budget bad for Washington State, it is also bad for our country's economic future. As Senator Conrad said so eloquently a short time ago, it lines up massive deficits for years to come. I have to say it is astonishing to me that so many people in the majority speak of the need for fiscal discipline. The rhetoric does not match the reality of this budget.

We are currently fighting a war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and we are paying for it entirely out of deficit spending. We are paying for today's war on the backs of our children and grandchildren, when we should be doing it responsibly as part of this budget. That is only one of the many major spending initiatives this budget chooses to ignore in favor of keeping the consequences on generations to come.

Tonight, the President was on television talking about our grandchildren. The budget before us robs our grandchildren of an education, of health care, an economic future, and hands them a tremendous debt that they will be responsible for paying. I think that is the most fiscally irresponsible action we can take.

Sadly, this budget also shortchanges our veterans. My home State of Washington is home to 700,000 veterans. They rely on the services that were promised when they signed up. Washington State has also sent thousands of brave men and women to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now a large group is returning home, including 4,000 members of the National Guard.

That is why I have tried twice in this budget process to increase funding for veterans health care services. And twice the Republicans have said no. I even tried adding funding for this in the supplemental because caring for our veterans is a cost of war. Again, the majority party turned their backs on them.

I am extremely disappointed that Republicans in the Senate have chosen to turn their backs on the men and women who fought for us, our veterans. By denying the crisis at the VA, they are ignoring our responsibilities to fully provide for the men and women who risk their lives for our freedom.

I have heard the Republicans say we can take care of the needs of our veterans through the appropriations process. I am going to tell you, in the budget that is before us today, there will be not enough money to take care of our veterans through the appropriations alone. They will be competing with our military bases and other critical needs for precious few funds.

Our veterans, our military, and our future recruits deserve better. We send these brave men and women overseas to fight for us. They should not have to fight for the health care they have earned when they return home.

Next, let me turn to education. This budget fails to provide the funding that was promised in the No Child Left Behind Act. This budget comes up short of what our local schools need to fulfill a promise we made to our children.

I am also very concerned that this budget drastically cuts student loan programs and programs which provide critical early intervention and preparation for students to help them graduate from high school and succeed in college. There can be no better investment than those, and our young people are robbed of that in this budget.

Finally, I turn to transportation. When we invest in transportation infrastructure, we create jobs and we create economic growth. In fact, it is estimated that for every $1 billion we spend on transportation infrastructure, we create over 47,000 good-paying, family-wage jobs. We know investing in our transportation priorities today will help us improve our quality of life and provide for future economic growth.

If this Congress truly cared about investing in jobs, we would be here tonight considering a budget that includes the funding necessary to invest in our roads, our highways, and our bridges across this country. Unfortunately, once again, this budget that we are looking at tonight does not provide for our national priorities or for future economic growth.

At the start of the President's second term, this administration promised to restore bipartisanship and they promised to reach across party lines to meet the challenges of governing. I have to tell you, as a member of the joint House-Senate conference committee, I come here to tell my colleagues that we were not invited to the table. We were told our presence wasn't necessary.

This partisan, backroom dealing spells disaster for the entire budget process. Adoption of this budget resolution is only the first step in the lengthy budget process. It is far too early for this process to break down. I am really disappointed in the decision to ignore many of the bipartisan amendments that were adopted in the Senate and, as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have to say I fear that this kind of partisan tone will make past budget battles on the floor seem mild.

We have heard a lot about fiscal responsibility throughout this budget process. Unfortunately, those lessons are ignored in this budget resolution before us tonight. We are ignoring our priorities and our responsibilities, and we are increasing our deficits.

Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to reject this budget agreement and sit here tonight and agree to work on a budget agreement that does invest in our future and pays off our debts from the past.

I yield the floor.

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