[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
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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
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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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