[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1320-1322]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      PRESIDENT'S BUDGET PROPOSAL

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the President's budget is often described 
as ``dead on arrival.'' In fairness to this President and others, we 
should look at it in a different way. This is the President's proposal 
for the budget for the next fiscal year. It is a fiscal year for which 
this President will not be here. The year begins on October 1. He will 
end his term in office January 20. So most of this budget will affect 
the next administration, the next President. This is pure speculation 
on his part about where America should be in the next year as the 
President leaves office.
  The folks at the Office of Management and Budget must have worked up 
to the last minute, because when they posted the President's proposed 
budget on line yesterday, two of the first 15 words were misspelled. 
Far worse than misspellings, however, many of the priorities in the 
President's budget are misplaced. The President has proposed the first 
$3 trillion budget in American history; $3 trillion. Yet with all that 
money, the President, with his priorities, continues to cut education 
and health care, energy conservation and independence, affordable 
housing, veterans programs, and many national priorities. Seven years 
ago, President Bush came to town as one of the luckiest Presidents in 
modern history. As some might say, using an analogy from Ann Richards 
in a speech she once gave to a Democratic convention, President Bush 
started his administration, in economic terms, on second base. Things 
had been done to improve America's economy and its budget, and they 
were given to this President to continue.
  President Bush inherited the largest budget surplus in America's 
history. In his first budget address in 2001, he promised to use that 
surplus to fund

[[Page 1321]]

our priorities, strengthen our economy, and even pay down the national 
debt. He said after all that was done, he would have enough money left 
over for tax cuts. Today, 7 years later, after President Bush and Vice 
President Cheney have been in the White House working with a Congress 
largely under Republican control, America's economy is in trouble. 
Federal spending during their term has increased 53 percent. Our 
deficit is expected to hit $410 billion this year, $407 billion next 
year. Instead of paying down the national debt, this President, who 
inherited a surplus, has piled record amounts of new debt for America 
and for generations to come. Under George Bush the national debt has 
increased by more than $3 trillion. We are going around the country, 
hat in hand, borrowing and begging from China, the Middle East oil 
states, Korea, Japan, about any other country that will pay our bills, 
because this President has been unable to. Now the President is 
demanding, nevertheless, that his tax cut ideas become permanent law.
  How much would President Bush's tax cuts for wealthy people cost us 
if they were made permanent? Mr. President, $4.3 trillion over the next 
10 years, tax cuts primarily for people who weren't even asking for 
them. That is not all. While the President claims to oppose tax 
increases, he is about to impose one of the largest tax increases in 
America's history on more than 25 million working middle-class 
families. He refuses to patch and reform the alternative minimum tax 
beyond next year. That is a $119 billion tax increase in 2010 alone.
  The President continues to argue that we need to stay in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. His budget, nevertheless, cuts off funding for the troops 
after the spring of next year. What is that all about? The President 
says we have to stay the course. Senator John McCain said it could last 
as long as 100 years. President Bush in his budget cuts off spending 
for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the spring of next year. He 
hasn't told us that the war is going to end then. I certainly hope it 
does. But he better get his story straight.
  With the economy failing and time running out on this Presidency, one 
might think the President would change his approach and accept new 
ideas. Unfortunately, he is stuck in the same old program and the same 
old message. Nine million more Americans are uninsured today than when 
President Bush took office. Half of those 9 million Americans lost 
their health insurance in the last 2 years. It is getting worse and at 
a pace most American families can't keep up with. What does the 
President say about that? He wants to cut the Medicare Program, a 
program for the elderly and the disabled. In Medicaid, he wants to make 
cuts, a program for those in lower income categories, many of whom have 
lost their jobs. He wants to cut other parts of America's health care 
safety net. His budget singles out health care for the heaviest cuts 
while continuing to provide large overpayments to many private 
insurance companies.
  In Illinois, more than 1.5 million people depend on Medicare, more 
than 2 million depend on Medicaid. Under the President's budget, 
Illinois would receive $123 million less in Federal Medicaid funds. 
Stroger Hospital in the city of Chicago is a public hospital of which I 
think very highly. They have a very competent medical staff. They treat 
the poorest of the poor, not just in Chicago and Cook County but for 
many surrounding counties. Over half the people who come to that 
hospital have no way to pay for their care. At Holy Cross Hospital in 
Marquette Park, 25 percent of those who are treated cannot pay for 
anything. Yet the President says we should cut the Federal Government's 
reimbursement to these hospitals? It doesn't make sense. We know what 
is going to happen. There will be an awful lot of Americans who will 
have no place to turn and won't have the professional medical care 
which we all want for our families.
  When will this administration understand that Medicare is there to 
help our seniors, not to line the pockets of corporations? The 
President should fund Medicare.
  In his State of the Union Address, the President also called on 
Congress to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. Yet once again, this 
President has underfunded his own law. The Department of Education 
estimates the President's budget will provide $588 million in title I 
funding in Illinois. That is just over half the amount promised under 
No Child Left Behind. As a result, 120,000 Illinois children will be 
left without full title I services. It is one thing to ask kids to take 
tests to figure out whether they are making progress or falling behind. 
But once they need a helping hand, how can this President repeatedly 
refuse to come up with Federal funds to fund the very mandates he has 
created? The President also siphons away $300 million from public 
schools to pay for vouchers for private and religious schools. Those 
vouchers come at the expense of 48 programs, including a lot of 
essential programs for students such as Perkins loans that help 
students go to college. I am not opposed to private and religious 
schools. I am a product of religious school education. They have a 
valuable place in our society. But the first obligation of the 
Government is to the public education system. The President, 
unfortunately, is not going to meet that obligation.
  When it comes to homeland security, again the President refuses to 
put money in the COPS Program, the single most practical and effective 
way to provide men and women in uniform so they are there when we need 
them. This year he slashes funding for State and local law enforcement 
assistance, such as the COPS Program and the Byrne grants.
  On energy and global warming, the President's budget is, 
unfortunately, unresponsive to the real national and global emergency 
we face. Record high oil prices are harming the economy, record 
emissions and pollution threatening our globe and its climate. We ought 
to be investing aggressively in developing renewable energy options. 
Instead, the President's budget proposes a 7-percent reduction in solar 
energy research, a 27-percent reduction in energy efficiency programs, 
and a 79-percent cut in weatherization programs to help families trying 
to keep their homes warm and cool. The President's budget cuts LIHEAP 
by 22 percent. As a result, 15,000 Illinois families would lose 
assistance.
  It also proposes to eliminate what was once the centerpiece of coal 
energy research in America, the FutureGen plant in Mattoon, IL. This is 
one near and dear to my heart. For 5 years, I worked with a bipartisan 
delegation--Congressman Tim Johnson, Republican of Illinois, Senator 
Obama, and others--to win this plant for our State. Governor 
Blagojevich, local officials, everybody pitched in. We were announced 
to be the winners in the middle of December. Last week the Secretary of 
Energy pulled the plug and said: We are not going to fund this project. 
How can this President walk away from a zero-emission coal energy plant 
that has been something he has bragged about for so many years?
  The subprime mortgage crisis has plunged America into our worst 
housing crisis, some experts say, since the Great Depression.
  Two million families are likely to lose their homes to foreclosure 
over the next 2 years. There is a dramatic need for affordable housing 
all across America, from big cities to small rural communities.
  Yet the President wants to slash or even eliminate programs that help 
rural communities build affordable housing and help families own their 
own homes, like the multi-family housing direct loans, self-help 
housing grants and single family housing direct loans.
  The President also wants to eliminate the HOPE IV program, which 
helps cities restore public housing, and the section 108 loan program, 
which helps families rehab their homes.
  The President's budget cuts community development block grants by 
$650 million. Illinois would lose $40 million for police officers, 
improved street lighting and sewer lines, upgrading low income housing, 
reconstructing problem roadways and operating substance abuse programs 
and homeless shelters.

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  Amtrak is vitally important to Illinois and all of America. 
Unfortunately, the President and his administration are once again 
attempting to privatize and eventually eliminate Amtrak rail service.
  The President's budget cuts the Airport Improvement Program funding 
by $764 million.
  Illinois would lose $25 million, threatening a critical source of 
funding for new runway construction at O'Hare, and improvements at 
airports such as Waukegan, Marion, Peoria, Springfield and many other 
Illinois airports.
  Once again the President has refused to include funding for the wars 
in Iraq and Afghanistan in his budget. After 6 years of fighting, this 
administration continues to skirt the rules and avoid accountability 
and openness.
  Continuing to fund the war through supplemental funding is one way 
the administration tries to mask the full cost of these wars. Another 
way is by underfunding veterans health and other services our veterans 
have earned and need.
  The President is requesting $41.2 billion for the VA health care 
system--$1.6 billion below the independent budget's recommendation.
  His budget shortfalls mean that there will likely be little relief 
for Illinois's nearly 70,000 veterans, who must still wait for an 
average of nearly 5 months to have their disability claims processed.
  More than 76,000 farm families in Illinois produce crops and 
livestock that feed families all over the world.
  Agriculture research is vitally important to Illinois farm families 
and to our national economy. The President's budget would cut 
agriculture research by $330 million, which could jeopardize promising 
research at the ARS lab in Peoria and the University of Illinois 
extension services.
  In addition, the President proposes sharp cuts in rural broadband 
programs, rural housing, and rural business development.
  In Illinois, which receives the second-highest total of USDA rural 
development assistance in the Nation, the President's cuts would all 
but eliminate popular grant programs that support innovative rural 
businesses, community facilities, and broadband networks.
  President Bush is proposing the largest cut to the Corporation for 
Public Broadcasting in its 40-year history--a 56-percent reduction in 
funding.
  America's 1,100 public radio and TV stations are an indispensible 
source of education, information for enrichment. The President's cuts 
would cripple them.
  Illinois's 30 public radio stations would lose at least $6.5 million 
in total support and lose all of their digital transition funding and 
culture for sources, civic education, and special local content to 
communities.
  Finally, in foreign affairs, the President's budget cuts the U.S. 
contribution to the global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and 
malaria by $341 million--funds that could provide lifesaving AIDS drugs 
for 37,500 more people, treat more than 272,000 people for TB, and 
provide more than 2.1 million bed nets to prevent for malaria.
  As the world's wealthiest and most powerful Nation, our actions 
encourage other donor nations to step up and devote additional 
resources to fight the global AIDS pandemic. Keeping our commitments to 
the global AIDS fight can help to restore goodwill for America in 
Africa and around the world.
  Someone at the White House corrected those misspelled words in the 
first draft of the President's budget. It is up to Congress to replace 
the misplaced priorities in the President's plan and agree on a budget 
plan that meets the needs of America's families and businesses and 
communities and puts our economy back on the right track.
  I yield the floor.
  (Mr. Durbin assumed the Chair.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time I 
consume apply against the Republican time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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