I was hopeful my colleagues and I would have the opportunity to pass a budget this year that truly addresses the real priorities facing America's working families. Instead, this budget is fiscally irresponsible, adds trillions of dollars to our national debt while failing to take into account the cost of our continuing efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and makes drastic cuts to programs so many of our working families rely on. 

This budget breaks the promises made to our farmers in the Farm Bill by reducing federal payments to crop and dairy producers by $5.7 billion over the next decade. Invoking these cuts right in the middle of the Farm Bill authorization process sets a dangerous uncertainty for producers and bankers - especially those in rural communities. 

Despite the fact that there are 45 million Americans today who lack access to affordable health care, the budget cuts Medicaid by $45 billion, which millions of elderly and disabled Americans depend on to provide critical health care services. These cuts will have a devastating impact on small states like Arkansas, where 717,000 of the state's 2.7 million residents are Medicaid recipients. Governor Mike Huckabee and I have met to discuss our concerns over these staggering cuts, and we are committed to working together on this important issue. 

This budget also significantly undercuts funding for our first responders, reducing first responder grants by $480 million and decreasing the COPS program by $477 million, or by 96 percent. Many of our police officers and fire fighters in rural communities literally depend on this funding to purchase necessary resources such as trucks and radios. 

There are responsible ways to address our nation's budget. Several weeks ago, I joined my fellow Members of the fiscally-conservative Blue Dog Coalition and introduced a budget plan that would restore fiscal sanity to our nation's government. Our "12-point Budget Plan" sets forth sensible objectives such as supporting a constitutional amendment that would require a balanced budget every year, establishing "paygo" standards -- meaning any new spending must be paid for by cuts in other programs or by new revenues -- and justifying spending for pet projects. Our budget plan has received mounds of praise from many non-partisan watchdog groups across the country, and I can only hope this publicity will eventually have an impact on the way our majority party chooses to address our nation's budget needs. 

Folks, it's all about priorities. My wife Holly and I own a pharmacy in my hometown of Prescott, and there is no doubt if we ran our business like the government runs its budget, we'd be in big trouble. 

We had the opportunity to pass a responsible budget this year - a budget that protects our working families, strengthens the middle class, and provides opportunities for all Americans while maintaining a system of accountability, but we did not. As your representative in the United States Congress, please be assured that as Congress continues to debate the budget, I will fight to restore fiscal responsibility and work to restore these irresponsible cuts.