March 16, 2006
Washington, DC – Senator Chris Dodd made the following statement after the Senate narrowly passed the budget by a vote of 51-to-49 late last night.

“Our nation is the strongest in the world. Our people have the ability to meet any and all challenges. But unfortunately this Administration and Congress have pushed us off course into dangerous waters. And instead of correcting that ill-advised course, they continue to steer us toward the rocky shoals of fiscal irresponsibility. This budget confirms that. Instead of paying down the massive debt that has ballooned under President Bush, this budget only adds to the record debt racked up by this Administration. Instead of investing in our people and our nation’s security, this budget hands out goodies and treats to special interests and those at the very top.

At this time of year, as we gather with the ones we love and give thanks for all that we have, our thoughts also turn to those most in need. They may be people we know or people we've never met: families who can't afford to heat their homes during the cold winter months or pay their health care bills; children struggling to learn in broken and overcrowded schools; or working men and women who will receive pink slips instead of pay checks in their holiday mail this year. They may also be among the hundreds of thousands of Americans who suffered extraordinary losses in the destruction wreaked by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

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This past week, the White House made a stunning declaration about the phenomenon known as “offshoring” or “outsourcing,” which describes the exodus of jobs from America to foreign shores. An annual economic report to Congress, signed by the President, actually praised offshoring as beneficial to American workers. The day the report was released, the President’s top economic adviser called outsourcing “a good thing.”