(Washington, D.C.) Fourth District Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) issued
the following statement Monday concerning President Bush’s proposed budget
for the 2006 fiscal year.
“I have strong concerns regarding President Bush’s proposed budget for
the upcoming fiscal year. His budget calls for the elimination of 150 government
programs, many of which are vital to Arkansas’s hardworking families.
“Under his plan, federal payments to crop and dairy producers would
be slashed by $587 million next year and $5.7 billion over the next decade!
And despite the fact that there are 45 million Americans today who lack
access to affordable health care, the President wants to cut a whopping
$60 billion from Medicaid, which millions of elderly and disabled Americans
depend on to provide critical health care services.
“As our nation welcomes more veterans home from Iraq and Afghanistan,
the President’s budget raises veterans’ health care costs by slashing $2
billion less than veterans’ service organizations estimate they need. His
budget also imposes new co-payments on prescription drugs and enrollment
fees that will cost veterans hundreds of millions of dollars. This
is no way to thank our brave men and women in uniform for all the sacrifices
they have made.
“As a Member of the Blue Dog Coalition that promotes fiscal discipline
within our nation’s government, I am glad the President has set a goal
of cutting the deficit in half by 2009. However, I have to wonder how he
plans to accomplish this. While he tightens the belt of domestic spending
by making massive cuts to numerous programs, his budget fails to factor
in the cost of his Social Security plan, as well as his expected funding
requests for Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, the President is expected to
ask Congress for an additional $80 billion in funding for Iraq and Afghanistan
next week, but his budget fails to recognize this.
“Finally, the President’s budget calls for making his tax cuts permanent.
I have supported tax cuts in the past, when our country was not deficit
spending and we were not at war. In fact, if the President were to repeal
the tax cuts he gives to the top one percent of income earners, the savings
generated by repealing those tax cuts would essentially pay to fix Social
Security!
“But for the President to recommend making his tax cuts permanent on
the backs of our hardworking families, many of whom heavily depend on programs
President Bush’s budget eliminates, is fiscally and morally wrong.” |