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This week, nearly four months after the Fiscal Year 2006 budget was scheduled to take effect, Congress passed an amended Fiscal Year 2006 budget resolution, the so-called ‘Deficit Reduction Act.’ This legislation cuts nearly $40 billion from our nation’s budget while including up to $106 billion in tax cuts, thereby actually increasing the deficit. Republican lawmakers have struggled since October to obtain a majority to slash funding for programs such as Medicaid, federal student aid programs and for programs that provide assistance to our nation’s first responders and law enforcement. This debate culminated in the Senate in late December with a tie vote, requiring the Vice President to cast a tie-breaking vote for passage and a new version of the conference report be sent to the House of Representatives for approval. The passage of the Deficit Reduction Act comes less than one week before the President will submit the Fiscal Year 2007 budget which is expected to contain additional cuts to programs that directly impact the poor, disabled and elderly.
The so-called ‘Deficit-Reduction Act’ is being used as a guise to offset tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 per year. This budget reconciliation package is indicative of misguided priorities that do not reflect the small town values I was raised on and still believe in. This amended budget includes $11.9 billion in cuts to federal student loan programs; the largest cut in the program’s history, and is estimated to adversely impact over 50,000 students in Arkansas alone.
This budget reconciliation package also includes $6.9 billion in cuts to Medicaid – the health insurance plan for the poor, disabled and elderly. These cuts come only one day after the President delivered the State of the Union Address and commented, ‘Our government has a responsibility to help provide health care for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility. For all Americans, we must confront the rising cost of care and help people afford the insurance coverage they need.’ I find that statement ripe with irony in light of the budget cuts to Medicaid.
This week’s vote on the Fiscal Year 2006 budget is about priorities. Tax cuts are being provided for those earning over $400,000 each year while important programs that directly impact the poor, disabled and elderly are being slashed. I voted against the House version of the bill in November; I voted against the first conference report in December; and this week, I voted against the second conference report. We must not slash funding for programs that directly impact the poorest among us in order to provide tax cuts for the wealthiest. As your Representative in the United States Congress, rest assured, I will always side with the hard-working families of Arkansas. |
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