FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
March 25, 2004
Contact:  Adrienne Elrod
(202) 225-3772
 

Ross Statement Re: House Passage of Republican Budget Bill
 
(Washington, D.C.) Fourth District Rep. Mike Ross issued the following statement Thursday concerning the passage of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2005, the fiscally irresponsible Republican budget bill passed in the House of Representatives Thursday evening.

“I am highly-disappointed my Republican colleagues chose to pass a budget that is fiscally irresponsible, increases our national debt by more than half a trillion dollars, and fails to address the real priorities and values of America’s working families.  

“The Republican budget leaves room to make President Bush’s $1.1 trillion dollar tax cut, which mostly benefits the wealthiest two percent of Americans, permanent. It also pushes our country’s financial state further in the red by creating an estimated $521 billion deficit for 2005, forcing our children and grandchildren to bear the burden of this administration’s reckless spending habits today.

“The Republican budget passed today also severely under-funds our education system by slashing funding for important education programs such as Head Start and IDEA. It even cuts No Child Left Behind education funding by $9.4 billion.  And at a time when college tuition costs are soaring, this budget provides no increase for the Pell Grant. This budget also jeopardizes the future of Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, and actually cuts Homeland Security, redirecting much of this funding to tax cuts for the rich. 

“Perhaps one of the most disgraceful aspects of this budget is that it provides $2.6 billion less that the estimated amount of health care funds currently needed for our nation’s veterans. At a time when our men and women in uniform are making ultimate sacrifices to serve our country, it is shameful to pass a budget that shifts more of the burden of health care costs to our veterans. The Republican budget also creates a new, $250 annual fee some veterans must pay to access health care, and doubles the monthly co-payments some veterans must pay for prescription drugs! 

This budget also slashes funding for the COPS program to $97 million from $756 million! It also slices the Assistance to Firefighters grant program by $250 million, from $750 million to $500 million. And the Republican’s budget passed today slashes Agriculture spending by $1.6 billion. These discretionary cuts jeopardize vital programs to agriculture, such as the Farm Service Agency, Agriculture Research Service, and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. 

The Republican budget zeroes out funding for the Ouachita Black River Navigation System, which if not funded, would literally shut down numerous businesses in South Arkansas. I worked my Democratic colleagues to successfully insert language in two key Democratic budget alternatives to President Bush's proposed budget that if passed, would have supported for the full-funding of the Ouachita Black River Navigation System. 

“As a member of the fiscally-conservative Blue Dog Coalition, I supported the Blue Dog Budget Alternative, that would have enacted responsible spending constraints while at the same time employ strong budget enforcement measures and responsible tax policies that would have cut our deficit in half in two years and balanced our budget by 2012. Instead, the Republican budget offers no plan to bring our budget back to balance, and their budget even refuses to show how large deficits will be after 2009.  

“The Republicans passed a budget Thursday that continues to implement the same economic policies that have caused our country to lose 3 million jobs since the current administration took office, and will create the largest budget deficit in our nation’s history for second year in a row.”


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