Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz (D-TX)

FOR RELEASE, 2.6.06
CATHY TRAVIS, (202) 225-7742

PRESIDENT SUBMITS BUDGET, SETTING TONE FOR ANNUAL BUDGET;
ORTIZ NOTES BORDER SECURITY INSUFFICIENT

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz today took issue with much in the budget President George W. Bush submitted to Congress, the opening salvo in the annual budget and spending process. Ortiz approached several items and spending proposals with caution, fearing it will adversely affect South Texans on a number of levels. When all proposals are totaled – including spending cuts, tax hikes and Social Security partial privatization – this budget would actually increase spending by $551 billion. But all those costs are not reflected in the budget’s deficit projections, since the administration did not deduct the Social Security costs from the bottom line.

The budget contains a slew of tax cuts, tax incentives and tax-cut extensions that would cost the Treasury $1.7 trillion over the next decade, dwarfing the $172 billion in entitlement savings and proposed tax increases claimed in the budget. The budget also included the cost of the President’s embattled plan to add private investment accounts to Social Security, at a cost to the Treasury of $82 billion in the first two years of the program and $172 billion over the first seven years.

“Budgets reflect who we are, what we value, and how we fulfill the lofty rhetoric that receives grateful applause,” Ortiz said. “But anymore, these budgets serve to hide the truth: the endgame here is the administration talks a good game about border security, education and senior citizens – and when it comes to the budget, we don’t even do the least we should be doing.”

Ortiz, a co-chairman of the House Border Caucus, a former Sheriff, and a frequent critic of border security spending laid out previous spending on border security:

• Dec, 2004: the 9-11 Commission legislation (passed by Congress, signed by the President) said the very least the U.S. needed to do was add 2,000 Border Patrol agents annually (for 10 years) and 8,000 detention beds annually.
• President’s budget 2005: proposed 200 BP agents (that’s 1,800 short of the least we said we would do) and 1,900 detention beds (that’s 6,100 short of the least we said we would do).
• Congressional budget 2005: including all appropriations, funded 1,500 BP agents (still 500 short of 9-11 Commission mandates) and 4,250 detention beds (still 3,750 short of 9-11 Commission recommendations).
• President’s budget 2006: proposed 1,500 BP agents (still 1,000 short of the least we said we would do) and 6,000 detention beds (still 5,750 short of the least we said we would do).

“Apparently, the administration doesn’t think our seniors have suffered enough as they fight their way through the maze of HMO-sponsored Medicare Rx drug ‘reform’ that I opposed,” Ortiz said. “Just as the program is proving to be monumentally insufficient, this budget subtracts $36 billion from the program. The program was unbelievably bad policy to begin with. Today’s budget signals it will get much worse.”

Cuts in Health and Human Services also include:

• $5 billion to Medicaid/State Children’s Health Insurance Program
• $17 million for Child Support Enforcement

“Our nation’s veterans, the population of which sadly grows each day, and which a growing number of veterans are now unable to access given the administration policies, continue to suffer humiliation in this budget,” Ortiz said. “Today’s budget calls for a $250 enrollment tax for Priority 7 and 8 veterans as well as increasing taxes (in the form of higher co-payments) on a 30-day supply of prescription drugs from $8 to $15. Similar or identical proposals have been rejected repeatedly by Congress; in fact the Senate directed the President not to include that proposal in his FY07 budget.”

Priority 7 veterans are veterans whose injuries are not service-related and whose income is more than $26,903 ($32,286 for a veteran with a dependent). Priority 8 veterans are veterans whose injuries are not service related and whose incomes are higher than Priority 7 veterans. As of 2005, there were approximately 2.4 million Priority 7 and Priority 8 veterans nationwide, representing 45% of the veterans currently receiving VA health care.

“Is there good news for our nation in this budget?” Ortiz asked. “Certainly … as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I was delighted to see another pay raise (of 2.2%) for our men and women of our uniformed services who are carrying the fight to our enemies in the war on terror in Afghanistan and in the Iraq war. Other good news for our servicemembers includes: a basic housing allowance increase of 5.9%. On the other hand – if Congress does not make changes to this budget – senior enlisted retirees younger than 65 will see TRICARE prime enrollment fees double over the next 2 years; a figure that will triple for retired officers through 2008. Retail pharmacy co-pays for military retirees will also increase under this budget.”

Yet Ortiz was concerned about the overall reduction (of 29,000 troops) in the active duty military force of the United States (the Navy cut their force by 12,000 and the Air Force cut their number by 17,000). Other personnel cuts included a 17,100 for the National Guard and a 5,000 cut for the Reserves. Ortiz concerns focused on why DoD would cut personnel when the nation is at war.

Following are specific budget amounts for South Texas area and general budget information:

Education related funding cuts:

• Cut of $253 million in Impact Aid, on which several Coastal Bend Schools depend; it was cut by more than half
• Zeroed out, Vocational education
• Zeroed out, TRIO Upward Bound
• Zeroed out, TRIO Talent Search
• Zeroed out, GEAR UP
• Zeroed out, Perkins Student Loan Program
• Cut of nearly $6 billion for student loan consolidation

Department of Justice grants cut:
The following grants were zeroed out – all of which benefit South Texas communities:

• State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) which reimburses local law enforcement for the detention of aliens; without this program, border communities are forced to support federal immigration officials pro-bono.
• Byrne Justice Assistance Grants
• Byrne Discretionary Grants
• COPS Law Enforcement Technology Grants (Earmarked entirely by Congress)
• Juvenile Accountability Block Grants
• COPS Hiring Grant Program
• COPS Interoperable Communications Grants.

Department of Homeland Security

• $3.2 billion in non-defense homeland security spending over 2006, a more than eight-percent increase.
• $10.5 billion for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• Over $3 billion dollars for the Border Patrol – funding for 1,500 Border Patrol agents (9/11 Report calls for 2,000/yr)
• $2.1 billion to support detention and removal efforts adding about 6,000 detention beds (9/11 Report calls for 8,000/yr).
• $100 million dollars for new technology, including portable imaging machines, cameras, sensors, and automated targeting systems that focus on high-risk travelers and goods.

“Catch and Release”
Currently, all non-criminal Mexican illegal aliens apprehended are returned to Mexico immediately.

Expedited removal applies to illegal non-Mexican aliens who are apprehended near our southwestern border—or who are stopped shortly after entering the United States without valid documents. These aliens will be detained and then removed to their home countries as quickly as possible. However, when no bed space is available (and this budget shortchanges detention beds by 5,750) these non-Mexican aliens are released and ordered to appear in court at a future date. This practice is known as “catch and release.”

Secretary Chertoff’s purported goal is to end the practice of “catch and release” and detain and remove these aliens as quickly as possible from the country.

Immigration

• $247 million to support implementation of the President’s proposal for temporary worker program
• $42 million for additional agents to increase worksite enforcement.
• $111 million to improve and expand the existing employment eligibility verification system known as the Basic Pilot Program (criticized heavily by the U.S. Chamber for the number of glitches)

US VISIT
In the future, to improve accuracy in the identification of those entering the country, first-time visitors will be enrolled in the US VISIT program by submitting 10 fingerprints. DHS, in conjunction with the Departments of State and Justice, will implement this multi-year screening project and the 2007 Budget includes:

• $60 million increase for DHS for 10 print deployment and for interoperability with the FBI’s fingerprint system, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS);
• $71 million increase for the FBI to upgrade IAFIS
• $10 million increase for the Department of State to begin implementing these new security measures.

Other/FEMA

• $150 million for Pre-Disaster Mitigation grants. This is an increase of $100 million over the enacted level in order to reduce possible damage from future disasters before they occur. In addition, the Administration is working with the Congress to reform the national flood insurance program to further mitigate the impact of flood damages and losses. (The Administration/Congress cut Pre Disaster Mitigation in the FY05 Budget)
• $3.1 billion for FEMA activities, an increase of $363 million over the 2006 level.
• $1.94 billion is requested for the Disaster Relief Fund to cover disaster response and recovery costs. This is an increase of $189 million over last year’s level and is based on average disaster response costs for small- and medium-scale disasters over the last five years.
• Nearly $70 million in additional funding for FEMA’s primary operational accounts to improve operational and oversight capacities and to enhance alert and early warning systems.

Coast Guard

• $7.1 billion for the Coast Guard, a six-percent increase over the comparable 2006 level and an 87-percent increase since 2001.
• Within this request, the administration says almost $935 million will be used for the Coast Guard’s Deepwater program, a multi-year recapitalization project for the Coast Guard’s aircraft and largest sea-going ships. The administration says this program is an investment in future Coast Guard capabilities and will ensure that the service is able to effectively execute its critical missions, like Port and Waterways Security and Migrant Interdiction. The Deepwater program, the administration says, could generate new air-and sea-based capabilities that support long-range surveillance and detection.

Homeland Security Grants

• $838 million is requested for State-based grants
• $633 million for State Homeland Security Grants
• $170 million for Emergency Management Performance Grants
• $35 million for Citizen Corps

In 2007, DHS will supposedly set basic interoperability standards so that Federal grant dollars can be used better when the Nation’s first responders try to communicate in an emergency. Every region participating in the 2006 and 2007 Urban Area Security Initiative will be required to develop and implement a plan for emergency incident-level interoperability. For 2007, States will be required to develop an interoperable communications strategy as a condition for receiving DHS homeland security grants.

Passenger Security Fees
The 2007 Budget proposes to replace the two-tiered aviation passenger security tax schedule with a single flat security tax of $5.00 for a one-way trip. The single tax corresponds better with actual security screening, which normally occurs only once in a one-way trip regardless of the number of trip segments.

The administration expects the new tax to increase collections by an additional $1.3 billion. The Administration claims that revenue generated by aviation security fees will cover about 70 percent of core aviation security costs.

Agriculture:

• $1 billion cut on commodity programs
• Cuts payments to farmers by 5 percent and impose stricter limits on payments, reducing the annual ceiling from $360,000 to $250,000 and supposedly closing loopholes that enable big rice and cotton operations to get payments well beyond the limits.
• Requires sugar producers to pay a 1.2% marketing assessment and dairy producers to pay an assessment of 3 cents per hundredweight of milk.
• Cuts crop insurance subsidies and requires producers to buy crop insurance
• Cuts food stamps from an estimated 300,000 people who qualify because they get other non-cash government assistance.