[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 8, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H356-H357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 FISCAL YEAR 2006 BUDGET OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT--MESSAGE FROM 
         THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 109-2)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, without 
objection, referred to the Committee on Appropriations and ordered 
printed:

                  the budget message of the president

  Over the previous four years, we have acted to restore economic 
growth, win the War on Terror, protect the homeland, improve our 
schools, rally the armies of compassion, and promote ownership. The 
2006 Budget will help America continue to meet these goals. In order to 
sustain our economic expansion, we must continue pro-growth policies 
and enforce even greater spending restraint across the Federal 
Government. By holding Federal programs to a firm test of 
accountability and focusing our resources on top priorities, we are 
taking the steps necessary to achieve our deficit reduction goals.
  Our Nation's most critical challenge since September 11, 2001, has 
been to protect the American people by fighting and winning the War on 
Terror.

[[Page H357]]

Overseas and at home, our troops and homeland security officials are 
receiving the funding needed to protect our homeland, bring terrorists 
to justice, eliminate terrorist safe havens and training camps, and 
shut down their financing.
  In Afghanistan and Iraq, we are helping establish democratic 
institutions. Together with our coalition partners, we are helping the 
Afghan and Iraqi people build schools, establish the rule of law, 
create functioning economies, and protect basic human rights. And while 
the work is dangerous and difficult, America's efforts are helping 
promote societies that will serve as beacons of freedom in the Middle 
East. Free nations are peaceful nations and are far less likely to 
produce the kind of terrorism that reached our shores just over three 
years ago.
  To ensure our security at home, the 2006 Budget increases funding for 
anti-terrorism investigations; border security; airport and seaport 
security; nuclear and radiological detection systems and 
countermeasures; and improved security for our food supply and drinking 
water.
  This Budget also promotes economic growth and opportunity. We must 
ensure that America remains the best place in the world to do business 
by keeping taxes low, promoting new trade agreements with other 
nations, and protecting American businesses from litigation abuse and 
overregulation. To make sure the entrepreneurial spirit remains strong, 
the Budget includes important initiatives to help American businesses 
and families cope with the rising cost of health care. This Budget 
funds important reforms in our schools, and promotes homeownership in 
our communities. In addition, the 2006 Budget supports the development 
of technology and innovation throughout our economy.
  The 2006 Budget also affirms the values of our caring society. It 
promotes programs that are effectively providing assistance to the most 
vulnerable among us. We are launching innovative programs such as Cover 
the Kids, which will expand health insurance coverage for needy 
children. We are funding global initiatives with unprecedented 
resources to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic, respond to natural disasters, 
and provide humanitarian relief to those in need. The 2006 Budget 
continues to support domestic programs and policies that fight drug 
addiction and homelessness and promote strong families and lives of 
independence. And in all our efforts, we will continue to build working 
relationships with community organizations, including faith-based 
organizations, which are doing so much to bring hope to Americans.
  In every program, and in every agency, we are measuring success not 
by good intentions, or by dollars spent, but rather by results 
achieved. This Budget takes a hard look at programs that have not 
succeeded or shown progress despite multiple opportunities to do so. My 
Administration is pressing for reforms so that every program will 
achieve its intended results. And where circumstances warrant, the 2006 
Budget recommends significant spending reductions or outright 
elimination of programs that are falling short.
  This Budget builds on the spending restraint we have achieved, and 
will improve the process by which the Congress and the Administration 
work together to produce a budget that remains within sensible spending 
limits. In every year of my Administration, we have brought down the 
growth in non-security related discretionary spending. This year, I 
propose to go further and reduce this category of spending by about one 
percent, and to hold the growth in overall discretionary spending 
including defense and homeland security spending, to less than the rate 
of inflation. I look forward to working closely with the Congress to 
achieve these reductions and reforms. By doing so, we will remain on 
track to meet our goal to cut the deficit in half by 2009.
  Our greatest fiscal challenges are created by the long-term unfunded 
promises of our entitlement programs. I will be working with the 
Congress to develop a Social Security reform plan that strengthens 
Social Security for future generations, protects the benefits of 
today's retirees and near-retirees, and provides ownership, choice, and 
the opportunity for today's young workers to build a nest egg for their 
retirement.
  In the past four years, America has faced many challenges, both 
overseas and at home. We have overcome these challenges not simply with 
our financial resources, but with the qualities that have always made 
America great: creativity, resolve, and a caring spirit. America has 
vast resources, but no resource is as abundant as the strength of the 
American people. It is this strength that will help us to continue to 
prosper and meet any challenge that lies before us.
                                                      George W. Bush,  
February 7, 2005.

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