CONGRESSMAN SALAZAR TO BUDGET COMMITTEE: “DO NOT FAIL RURAL AMERICA”

Salazar Testifies on Impact of President’s Budget

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John T. Salazar (CO-3) today testified before the House Budget Committee on the impact of the President’s proposed budget on rural Colorado. The following are excerpts from Salazar’s testimony:

“Now, this is only my second year in Congress and my first year was a crash course on how this institution works.  What I learned in that time is we often forget about the people behind the numbers.  We forget about the family farmer struggling to raise crops during times of drought and record-high gas prices.  We forget about the lone doctor working to provide care for sometimes an entire county.  But this is the world I live in back in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. 

“Over the past week, I have spent time reviewing the Administration’s proposed budget and I am deeply concerned about the program cuts that I saw.  I cannot overemphasize how detrimental a budget like this would be to rural America.  From cuts to the Agricultural Commodity programs to downsizing the Essential Air Service program to cutting funds for rural outreach grants, this budget fails rural America. 

“In my time here today, my goal is to communicate one message – rural America is the backbone of this great nation and we should not fail rural America.  We cannot pass the burden of debt onto the backs of our farmers who work hard to put food on our family tables.

“I have always said that there are only two things that can bring this country down – our dependence on foreign oil and our dependence on other countries to produce our food.  By cutting vital programs such as crop and commodity programs, we place our domestic food supply in jeopardy.  By reducing crop insurance premium subsidies, we again place our domestic food supply in jeopardy. 

“Rural America is working hard to redefine our role in 21st Century America.  We are looking at growth areas such as bio-fuels and capitalizing on unique landscapes for ecotourism, which brings valuable dollars and jobs to economically depressed areas.  I am excited about the possibilities.  I ask that this Budget Committee not fail rural America, and instead begin to see how programs like these are an investment in our nation and in an area that does so much for our country.

“Finally, I would like to end today by expressing my dismay that the President’s budget funds his proposal to privatize social security.  Ever since I introduced the Social Security Trust Fund Protection Act last year, I have called for Democrats and Republicans to come together and I was glad to hear the President say he wanted to create a bipartisan commission to lead the effort.

“So the budget this week was a big surprise - $712 billion to privatize Social Security and billions more in benefit cuts? I had really hoped we were ready to come together in good faith to find a solution, but a sneak in provision is by no means an honest start.

“In rural America, Social Security keeps tens of thousands of people from falling into extreme poverty. Around the time we began this debate last year, I was approached by Amelia Valdez from Pueblo, CO, a woman about my own mother’s age.  She gave me a photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act into law and said with tears in her eyes: ‘Hang it in your office as a reminder - please, do not let them dismantle my only source of income.’ I hope this Committee will think of women like Amelia Valdez and steer clear of efforts to privatize and dismantle Social Security.

“I would like to close by asking each of you to make a personal commitment to support and invest in a region that often goes unrecognized for its cultural and economic contributions to our nation.”