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Recently, the President delivered the State of the Union address to the nation and touted programs such as funding for healthcare and education. Just this week, the President sent to Congress the Administration’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2007. The budget submitted to Congress on Monday actually reduces funding for programs that impact our nation’s farm families, poor, disabled and elderly while providing $1.3 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade and increasing the deficit in the long run. In fact, the budget calls for the significant reduction or elimination of 141 government programs, many of which are vital to Arkansas’s hardworking families.
In the State of the Union address to the nation, the President clearly stated, ‘Our government has a responsibility to help provide health care for the poor and the elderly.’ Contrary to this statement, the proposed budget calls for $105 billion in cuts to Medicare over the next ten years and $13.5 billion in cuts to Medicaid – the healthcare program for the poor, disabled, and elderly. Unbelievably, these Medicare cuts come just five weeks after Medicare Part D, a voluntary prescription drug plan intended to provide coverage to 42 million elderly and disabled Americans, went into effect and was ripe with problems, leaving thousands of people throughout the nation without promised prescription drug coverage from the federal government.
In the aftermath of September 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina, recognition of true American heroes emerged – America’s police officers and firefighters. Tragic events on American soil have made it abundantly clear that our first responders are now on the front lines of protecting our homeland. Unfortunately, the proposed Fiscal Year 2007 budget terminates the Local Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention program, reduces the Firefighter Assistance program by nearly half, and cuts funding for Homeland Security Grants and the Urban Area Security Initiative by 35 percent. These drastic funding cuts will leave our first responders without the resources they so desperately need to keep our homeland safe.
As in many rural states, Arkansas depends upon agriculture to fuel its economy. This budget disproportionately impacts our nation’s farm families. The President asked for a five percent cut to crop and dairy subsidies as well as cutting 300,000 from the food stamp program. Our farm families serve an irreplaceable role in providing our nation with a safe and reliable source of food and fiber and I remain committed to providing a real safety net for farm families in Arkansas and across America.
The President committed to improving our nation’s math and science classes and included funding in the budget as part of the American Competitiveness Initiative. However, this budget fully eliminates 42 programs that fall under the Department of Education’s jurisdiction including Vocational Education State Grants, Educational Technology State Grants and Safe and Drug-Free School State Grants. For the fifth consecutive year, this budget does not increase funding for the Pell Grant – financial aid for need based college students.
In 2001, I was one of 28 Democrats to support tax cuts; it was before September 11th and before our nation was involved in a war with Iraq and Afghanistan. However, cutting taxes now for those earning over $400,000 while our nation is at war and experiencing record deficits for the fifth consecutive year is fiscal irresponsibility at its finest. The President’s recommendation to make tax cuts permanent at the expense of our nation’s working families, poor, disabled and elderly is fiscally and morally wrong. As Congress begins debate on the nation’s budget, I will continue to fight for the programs critical to the people of Arkansas’s Fourth Congressional District. |
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