Senator Boxer on Federal Budget Priorities

[paineinthearse]

Received by email. Sorry if already posted, I've been away but a search turned up no similar post.

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Subject: Senator Boxer on Federal Budget Priorities
Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 23:39:05 -0700

I thought you would be interested in the following message.

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Dear Friend:

I thought you might be interested in my recent comments on the
federal budget resolution. If you have any questions, I hope
you will feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

STATEMENT OF SENATOR BARBARA BOXER
FISCAL YEAR 2006 BUDGET CONFERENCE REPORT


Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I oppose this budget and will vote
against it. All of my colleagues should. It sets the wrong
priorities. It breaks promises to the American people. And it
is the height of fiscal irresponsibility.

Let me begin with the priorities. The priorities of the
American people are not the priorities of this budget.

It is quite clear what the priorities of this budget are: tax
cuts for the wealthy. In just one year, this budget provides a
tax cut for millionaires totaling $32 billion.

Meanwhile, education funding is cut almost $1 billion below the
services we are providing now. A total of 48 education
programs are eliminated. The promise that was made in the No
Child Left Behind Act is broken by $12 billion. Mr. President,
we should be increasing our commitment to our children, not
cutting it.

Veterans programs – for those brave men and women who served
our country and are currently serving our country in Iraq and
Afghanistan – are cut $500 million. As more and more veterans
return to this country, the demands on the VA system will only
grow. This budget ignores them.

This budget provides no funding for additional police officers
on the street. And two major programs to help local law
enforcement are eliminated.

Medicaid – the health care program for the poor and disabled, a
large portion of whom are children – is cut $10 billion.

Funding for the Centers for Disease Control – to prevent
diseases and to fight outbreaks – is cut 9 percent.

The promise we made to our farmers in 2002 is broken with cuts
of $3 billion.

Mr. President, what is going on here? Our children, our
veterans, the safety of our streets, and the health of our
people – all are taking a back seat to tax cuts for
millionaires. This budget helps the wealthiest 1 percent of
Americans at the expense of 99 percent of Americans.

Now, you would think that with all of these cuts in spending
for important programs, at least the budget would be balanced –
or at least would be more fiscally responsible than it has been
in the past four years.

You would be wrong. This budget increases our debt by $3.1
trillion over the next five years. In 2010, the federal debt
will be over $11 trillion.

That figure is so high, it is nearly incomprehensible. So let
me put it another way: $11 trillion is $1 million every day
for 30,000 years.

And, Mr. President, $11 trillion in debt is not the whole
story. This budget does not include the almost $400 billion in
costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This budget does
not include over $700 billion in costs for the President’s plan
to privatize Social Security. This budget does not include
over $700 billion to ensure that middle-class Americans are not
hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax.

Why aren’t these included? Because it would mean even more
debt. Debt upon debt upon debt upon debt. And most of it owed
to those from foreign countries. We are borrowing from the
Japanese, the Chinese, the British, and others – and sticking
the bill to our children and grandchildren.

And speaking of the President’s plan to privatize Social
Security, I find it ironic that the President again tonight
tried to scare the American people by saying that Social
Security was going “bankrupt,” when at the same time, this
budget steals $2.5 trillion over 10 years from the Social
Security Trust Fund. Instead of tax cuts for millionaires, we
should be paying back the Trust Fund.

Finally, Mr. President, this budget sets the stage for opening
up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. It has
nothing to do with the budget. It has nothing to do with
increasing our energy independence. It has everything to do
with destroying one of America’s most environmentally pristine
areas.

This budget has the wrong priorities, bankrupts our country,
and destroys our environment. It should be soundly and
overwhelmingly rejected.

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For more information on Senator Boxer's record and other
information, please go to: http://www.boxer.senate.gov

If you would like to make a comment regarding this or any other
federal matter, please feel free to do so at:
http://www.boxer.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm