[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 13 (Tuesday, February 7, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S734-S736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IMPACT OF THE BUDGET PROCESS

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, a week ago we all listened as the 
President laid out his priorities in the State of the Union.
  At the time, I noted that what he says in his speech is a lot less 
important than what he does in his budget.
  Yesterday, he sent us his budget, and I am deeply concerned about 
what it means for our country, our people and our future.
  Later today, I will raise some of my concerns directly with the 
budget director, and I will come back here to the floor time and again 
to talk about what we should be doing.
  But this morning, I want to step back and take a broad look at the 
significance of the budget and the choices before us.
  I want to remind my colleagues that what we do now will affect us, 
and the American people, months from now.
  The budget decisions we make now will either empower us, or tie our 
hands, when we turn to write the appropriations bills.
  I am speaking on the floor today to warn my colleagues that you 
cannot vote for an unrealistic budget in the spring and then act 
surprised in the summer and fall when painful cuts are required.
  At the end of every year, Congress crams several important pieces of 
legislation through in a rush to head home for the holidays. This past 
year was no different. In a matter of days, we finished appropriations 
bills, authorization bills, and even spending cuts.
  Unfortunately, the logjam we experienced at the end of last year was 
not a surprise to many of us who work closely on the budget process.
  Starting in March, many of us began raising concerns that we were 
headed in the wrong direction. We knew that there was no way we could 
honor our commitment to America's working families, enact huge cuts in 
entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid, enact another round of 
tax cuts, and continue to cut our Nation's deficit.
  When you add in the growing cost of war and Hurricane Katrina, the 
legislative train wreck was entirely predictable.
  But no matter what the hurry, make no mistake these bills have 
serious consequences, and their impact will be felt for years to come.
  They set funding levels, cut and grow programs, and set important 
policy for agencies and programs touching nearly every American.
  But it is more than that. Collectively, they represent our priorities 
and reflect our values.
  They provide the direction we intend to lead the country. And what 
too few Americans know--and too few Senators seem to remember--is that 
one single document serves as the blueprint for these additions, 
subtractions and everything in between each year.
  I'm speaking, of course, about the Federal budget resolution.
  Every year, with much fanfare and even more detail, the 
administration sends Congress a spending and revenue plan for the next 
5 years. Congress is required to draft a similar spending and revenue 
plan.
  Our work begins on the day we receive the President's budget and is 
supposed to be completed by April 15. From early February, until April 
we debate, mark up, and offer a multitude of amendments.
  Most of the time, we complete this process and move to the next phase 
of the budget process on May 1. The congressional budget resolution 
sets the tone for the entire budget process, including appropriations.
  I have served on the Budget Committee for my entire Senate career. 
It's a very important committee, one that I take great pride in working 
on. But its work is not often considered newsworthy or particularly 
interested for the press and public.
  While this process may not always draw front-page coverage, its 
importance could not be greater.
  This one document is more than numbers and charts. From health care 
to energy, security to the economy, this one document is the vehicle 
that allows us to act on each and every priority the Government will 
have for an entire year.
  The Federal budget is the statement of our priorities as a people. It 
should be a moral, thoughtful document.
  It should carefully consider its impact on the Nation's best-off and 
worst-off.
  Too often, I fear, this impact is overlooked in all the details and 
process. Its impact is lost in the time from the budget's passage to 
the enactment of the final appropriations bills.
  That is why this year, with the benefit of our action at the end of 
2005, with upcoming votes on left-over items from last year, and with 
the President's new budget, I wanted to come here to the floor to 
ensure that we all know the stakes of this great debate.
  And I intend to be back, saying much the same, I fear, in the weeks 
and months ahead.
  This year's budget, and the priorities it enacts, will not be lost to 
time, if I have anything to say about it. It is simply too important to 
forget.
  As I listened to the President's State of the Union, I felt a real 
disconnect between his priorities and the challenges facing working 
families in Washington State, Americans across our country, and those 
fighting for our freedom abroad.
  We all want America to be strong again and that means we must invest 
in our people and in our infrastructure. What the President said last 
week matters much less than what he does in his budget.
  That budget is a document of values, and it will tell us if he is 
really intent on creating a brighter future for America or just giving 
us more of the same.
  It is time to put the needs of America's working families first. We 
need a government that reflects our values and provides real economic 
incentives to encourage job creation.
  We can do that by investing in our infrastructure, providing 
affordable, accessible healthcare, supporting energy independence, 
providing education for all of our children, and protecting our ports 
and borders.
  These are the priorities that will make our Union and our families 
strong. We also have a moral obligation to ensure that our troops who 
serve and protect all of us have the resources they need on the 
battlefield and when they return home.
  Unfortunately, if last year's budget and this year's speech are any 
indication, the President's priorities are simply not in line with 
those of the American public.
  Almost exactly 1 year ago, the President previewed his FY 2006 budget 
in the State of the Union Address. He said:

       My budget substantially reduces or eliminates more than 150 
     Government programs that are not getting results, or 
     duplicate current efforts, or do not fulfill essential 
     priorities. The principle here is clear: Taxpayer dollars 
     must be spent wisely, or not at all.

  A week later, we received a budget from President Bush that slashed 
health care programs, punished veterans, cut education aid, and 
increased the long-term financial obligation we'll leave to the next 
generation. His ``non-essential priorities'' were made quite clear.
  In choosing to vote against that budget, I said:

       Families in Washington State and across the country 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 are voting on tonight leaves too many Americans 
     questioning the future.
       On issue after issue, this budget falls short of what our 
     communities and our country need to move forward.
       I know what responsible budgets look like because I've 
     worked with chairmen of both parties to create them.
       Unfortunately, this Republican budget fails to create jobs, 
     improve security and meet our country's needs.

  Mr. President, last year's budget proposal was a disaster. It cut 
Medicaid--the health care for our most vulnerable. It cut education. It 
cut veterans funding. And incredibly, once again, it increased the 
deficit.
  The President has rightly been focused on our Nation's security, but 
his budget didn't reflect the type of priorities that keep Americans 
safe. Speeches are one thing, but they ring hollow

[[Page S735]]

if not matched with a real commitment of funding.
  In fact, in his budget proposal last year, the President tried to cut 
firefighter grants, funding for U.S. search and rescue, and the port 
security grants that help keep cities such as Seattle and Tacoma safe. 
If we are serious about our security, then each of these should be 
priority for this President.
  And after that budget passed--by the slimmest of margins, I might 
add--we felt the pain it inflicted. In appropriations debate after 
appropriations debate Democrats, and in some cases even some 
Republicans, fought to provide the basic funding for services that make 
a difference in every American's life--the most important programs 
needed.
  Several times Republicans invoked the budget, saying we couldn't 
provide the necessary dollars because of its constraints.
  The budget and the Bush priorities were taking their toll.
  As if these painful cuts weren't enough, the Bush team actually used 
the budget to ensure more hardship for the least among us, while 
handing out more perks to the best-off.
  Through reconciliation, Republicans ``saved'' billions of dollars on 
the backs of the poor. Again, by the slimmest of margins in each 
Chamber, they cut Medicaid, Agriculture, and retirement security 
programs.
  Reconciliation is intended as a tool for reducing the deficit. 
Unfortunately, the Republican leadership has pushed reconciliation 
bills that actually make the deficit worse and pass the burden of tax 
cuts for the wealthy and the cost of the war on the backs of poor 
children, the disabled, and our Nation's seniors.
  I will say again what I said when they brought this immoral bill to 
our committee: At a time when communities along our gulf coast are 
hurting, when we are facing the implementation of a confusing new 
prescription drug law, when our roads and bridges and railways are 
aging, when millions of Americans are concerned about how they are 
going to pay for heat in their homes this winter, and when the men and 
women who have sacrificed to serve us overseas cannot find health care 
or jobs when they return home, we should be focused on protecting our 
most vulnerable, not handing them further burdens.
  There is one particular area that warrants mentioning because we have 
heard a lot about it in recent days, and that is health care. We heard 
the President talk about his health care priorities in his State of the 
Union Address last week. But every American knows that actions speak 
louder than words.
  One of the most serious challenges facing all working families today 
is the escalating cost of health care. Instead of addressing the 
increasing cost of health care and its impact on the uninsured, last 
year's failed budget strategy only made this situation worse.
  In the reconciliation package the House approved, half of the cuts 
come from Medicare and Medicaid. We know from a recent CBO report that 
an estimated 65,000 enrollees in Medicaid will lose coverage under the 
Republican budget reconciliation bill.
  The reconciliation bill shifts greater costs to working families and 
could reduce Washington State's share of Medicaid funding by $185 
million. The package requires higher copayments and premiums for low-
income children. It eliminates the focus on prevention benefits and 
early screening for children.
  Medicaid is an essential safety net program for seniors, for the 
disabled, and for our children. Without Medicaid, there are very few 
options available for receiving care. Nationwide, in fact, 40 percent 
of all births are paid for by Medicaid. Where will these people go for 
care? Who is going to pay? The reconciliation bill cuts $35 billion 
from services that make America stronger and make our communities more 
secure, all while burdening our children with massive debt.
  Rather than being good stewards of taxpayers' dollars and helping our 
Nation become stronger and more secure, and rather than paying down the 
debt, Republicans are back to the same game: They want to keep 
shoveling money right back out the door in the form of billions of 
dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle like to point out that 
they cut spending by $40 billion, but they did so by cutting student 
aid, cutting health care for the poor, and cutting other programs that 
are critical to working families, and they did it all while increasing 
the deficit.
  As our outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan once said:

       If you are going to lower taxes, you should not be 
     borrowing essentially the tax cut. That over the long run is 
     not a stable fiscal situation.

  I agree. Imposing painful cuts on hard-working families to pay for 
more tax cuts and then passing the cost on to our children is clearly 
wrong. We can and we must do better. And let's not forget higher 
deficits also mean a larger debt. It is no surprise that we soon will 
be asked to raise the borrowing authority yet again for the Federal 
Government to over $8 trillion. That is going to mean less capital for 
small businesses to expand and it means higher interest rates for every 
working family.
  Once again the budget and Bush priorities will take their toll.
  As I look at the challenges facing our country and as I listen to the 
people in my home State of Washington, it is pretty clear that the top 
priority now must be making America strong again. And to do that, we 
need to invest here at home. That means taking care of education, 
health care, infrastructure, housing, safety, and security, and on each 
of these fronts, the Bush priorities have been time and again 
misguided, adrift, and downright painful for millions of Americans.
  I believe that in order to make America strong, we need to make 
investments here at home in our people, in our infrastructure, and in 
our communities. Everywhere I travel in Washington State, I hear from 
families who are struggling to find a safe and affordable place to 
live. Whether it is a young couple looking for their first home or a 
family searching for rental housing close to their job or a senior 
citizen who wants to find better access to social services, it is 
harder than ever in this country to find affordable housing.

  Across the country, public housing agencies and nonprofit 
organizations are working to help families find a place they can call 
home. At the same time, they are contributing to community 
revitalization efforts that will bring new jobs and opportunities. But 
a lack of funding threatens those achievements that have been made and 
the work that is yet to be done.
  It is also critical that we continue to invest in our Nation's 
infrastructure. Recent cuts in transportation spending threaten to 
weaken airline safety, impose new transportation costs on American 
businesses, and cost tens of thousands of construction jobs. Investing 
in our Nation's transportation infrastructure will help reduce 
congestion, improve safety, and support continued economic growth. I 
urge this President to support these critical investments and put 
action behind his good rhetoric.
  When I am home in my State of Washington and here in DC, I hear a lot 
of concern from the business community, from local governments, and 
families over the United States losing its global competitiveness. In 
fact, we heard a lot from President Bush the other night on this very 
subject. But last year's budget set us on a path that weakened 
education programs at all levels, and the new budget that was sent to 
us yesterday does the very same thing.
  Last year's budget so constrained our education programs that the 
Labor-HHS appropriations bill failed once in the House and almost did 
not pass at all. In the end, programs faced one last hit again, a 1-
percent-across-the-board cut that further hindered education at every 
level.
  In a time when our schools are facing increasing requirements under 
the No Child Left Behind Act and families are facing rising college 
tuition costs, this is no time to be shortchanging education.
  Last year's budget resulted in funding levels that represented the 
smallest increase in education in a decade, and this year the President 
is proposing the largest cut to education in 26 years.
  This year, $12.7 billion is proposed to be cut from student loans 
that help low-income and middle-income families pay for college. 
Seventy percent of

[[Page S736]]

those cuts will be paid for by students and their families. Those cuts 
will not go for balancing the budget either; they are going to go for 
tax cuts for those who need them the least.
  Tuition and fees increased this year by 7.1 percent for 4-year public 
universities and 5.9 percent for private universities. Not only is 
cutting student aid the wrong priority for our country today, but it 
will cost our Nation dearly in the long term.
  Today only one-third of the U.S. workforce has a postsecondary 
education, and it is estimated that 60 percent of the new jobs in the 
21st century will require college education. Workers who have attended 
college have higher incomes and lower rates of unemployment than those 
who do not. And those with a college education are more likely to have 
jobs with benefits, such as health care and retirement and pension 
plans.
  We should be helping to break down the barriers to a college 
education, not building them up with this budget plan.
  I want to talk about veterans funding because with so many of our 
brave men and women fighting for us overseas, I believe our most 
fundamental priority has to be to take care of those who sacrificed so 
much for all of us.
  I have said time and again that actions speak louder than words, but 
it was, nevertheless, very troubling to me when President Bush failed 
to even mention our veterans in the State of the Union Address. I hope 
he will not forget them in the budget process.
  I am concerned that the President's fiscal year 2007 budget that was 
just sent to us is not based on real numbers and does not reflect the 
real demand for VA services. I am convinced that without real budgets 
based on real numbers, the VA is going to face a shortfall again this 
year and more veterans are going to be denied the care they have 
earned.
  The rising utilization rates, increasing costs of medical care, and 
the influx of veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq are going to require 
more VA funding.
  In addition, the new Medicare prescription drug program has added 
more demands on the VA. Many seniors who are veterans are now being 
told they should go to the VA for their prescription drugs. Surely, 
this influx of new VA patients will have a major impact on the VA 
system and will inevitably delay access for veterans.
  Finally, much of the increased demand on the VA system is due to the 
nationwide health care crisis. As veterans lose their health care 
coverage from their own employers, they are coming by the thousands to 
the VA to get care for the first time. The longer the health care 
crisis continues to grow, the more the demands will be on the VA to 
take care of the veterans population.
  As my colleagues will remember, last year I was told the VA didn't 
need any more funding. The administration told me everything was fine 
and that they could handle the demands brought about by the Iraq war. I 
tried time and again to increase funding for the VA to maintain 
veterans' access to the health care they were told they would get, and 
I was fought at every level. Then finally in June, Secretary Nicholson 
announced the VA was, indeed, facing a $1 billion shortfall in fiscal 
year 2005 and that the VA miscalculated demands in the VA by over $3 
billion between fiscal year 2005 and 2006.
  In June, when I asked whether the administration had adequately 
planned for the impact of the war, I was told the VA underestimated the 
number of Iraq war veterans by over 300 percent.
  I finally was able to work with my colleagues to attach $1.5 billion 
in emergency funding for the VA on the fiscal year 2006 Interior 
appropriations bill and another $1.2 billion in the fiscal year 2006 
military construction bill to finally cover this shortfall.
  Since the war in Iraq began, there have been 2,245 casualties and 
16,548 wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. Our men and 
women in uniform--past, present, and future--will time and again answer 
the call to duty, and at the very least they deserve a budget that 
fulfills our commitment to them and to their families.
  I look forward to debating the President's budget this week. I truly 
believe it is one of the most important actions that we take every year 
because it sets the tone for everything else we do.
  Tuesday night last week the President told Congress and all Americans 
that:

       In this decisive year, you and I will make choices that 
     determine both the future and the character of our country.

  I couldn't agree with him more. Our future and our character are at 
stake. A budget reflects our priorities and our values. Let's make sure 
our budget for the coming year reflects the best of both, and let's 
remember that the decisions we make now will tie our hands months from 
now.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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