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Washington, DC - Today, Rep. Gene Green (D-Houston) spoke out against the Bush Administration’s fiscal year 2006 budget, calling the proposal “bad for Texas” and another example of the Administration’s misguided priorities.
“Time and again, we’ve heard the President promise to cut the deficit in half, yet the budget he sent to Congress yesterday calls for yet another year of record-level deficits,” Green said. “Even worse, the President didn’t give Congress or the American people the straight story in this budget when it failed to include $2 trillion in costs that his policy proposals, such as the Social Security privatization proposal, will impose on the federal budget.”
For the third year in a row, the Administration’s budget forecasts record-level deficits, projecting a $427 billion deficit in fiscal year 2005. However, the Administration’s deficit calculations did not take into account key elements of its policy agenda, such as the cost of Social Security privatization ($754 billion over 10 years) and costs to reform the Alternative Minimum Tax (at $642 billion over 10 years). Additionally, the budget calculations failed to take into account costs the country is guaranteed to incur, such as war costs (at least $384 billion over 10 years) and interest on the national debt created by these increased costs ($267 billion over 10 years).
“With this budget, the President is not only taking our country in the wrong fiscal direction, he’s doing it on the backs of vulnerable Americans who rely on many of the domestic programs slashed by this budget,” Green continued. “The President’s cuts in Medicaid alone will take away $2.7 billion in crucial Medicaid dollars over five years that the State of Texas could use to provide much-needed health care to our low-income individuals.”
Specifically, the Administration’s budget calls for at least $45 billion in Medicaid cuts over five years. The Medicaid funding lost in the fifth year of this proposal would keep more than 111,000 Texas children and nearly 27,000 Texas seniors from receiving health insurance provided by Medicaid. The Administration’s budget also cuts the following key programs:
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Community Access Program – The budget eliminates this program, which has been instrumental in funding Gateway to Care’s efforts to coordinate health care for Harris County’s uninsured and underinsured.
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First Responders – The budget cuts first responder funding by 25 percent, providing only $820 million in fiscal year funds for grants that local fire, police and emergency-response agencies utilize in their homeland security efforts.
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Port Security Grants – The budget eliminates the Port Security Grant program, forcing ports to compete with other transportation-related industries for critical federal homeland security dollars.
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Port Dredging and Flood Control Projects – The budget cuts funding for the Army Corps of Engineers, which undertake Houston’s dredging and flood control projects. The budget provides only $4.4 billion for the Army Corps, a 14 percent decrease from fiscal year 2005 levels.
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TRIO– The budget eliminates the TRIO program, which provided $776,000 to colleges and universities in the 29th Congressional District benefiting roughly 2,300 low-income students through the Talent Search program alone.
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Trauma Funding – The budget eliminates all trauma funding, including EMS for children, which supports operations at Houston’s trauma hospitals.
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Oil and Gas Research and Development – The budget cuts this Energy Department program by 76 percent, providing only $20 million in fiscal year 2006.
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