Feb 8, 2006- President's Budget Hurts People

HON. MARCY KAPTUR
 OF OHIO
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2006

Clickhere to view Rep. Kaptur's floor statement
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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this administration will go down as the mostanti-life in modern history. The President's budget is a moral document. Itshould promote life. Yet the President's new budget released Monday makes thewrong choices. It irresponsibly hurts future generations and saddles them withgigantic debt. It hurts them, it hurts people. It is irresponsible.

Let us start with health care. The President's budget will hurt people. Itis a health care budget that is antilife. The Bush budget carves out over $36billion through 2011 from Medicare. Despite the fact that people cannot affordprescription drugs and costs are exploding, why is he forcing across-the-board cutsto future Medicare payments?

The chaos surrounding the new prescription drug benefit has already causedundue anxiety and lack of medication to thousands of our citizens too sick andtoo ill to fight back in lines at drugstores around our country. Seniors 80years old with Parkinson's disease are being forced to go into drugstoresconfused without the help that they need. The President's budget is antilife.

At the same time, the President's new budget slashes our lead agencies tofight disease. They shortchange veterans' health care. Apparently, the Bushadministration's idea of honoring service to our country is to make millions ofveterans pay huge increases for health care costs that they have earned. 

The President's budget proposal includes legislation that would raise veterans'premiums to over 100 percent on prescription drugs. Additionally, the Bushadministration has shortchanged the Department of Veterans Affairs, leaving itshort of needed funds to take care of the expected influx of tens of thousandsof injured and disabled veterans returning from Afghanistanand the Iraqwar. His veterans budget is anti-life.     

The Bush budget offers words only and no substance to thrust our Nation intoa new era of energy independence. For hard-hit consumers, he has offerednothing. His policies, however, allow the huge oil giants to rack up even moreprofits. Take ExxonMobil that just racked up the largest profit of anycorporation in U.S.history, $36 billion in profits in just 1 year. Their profits in 1 year werelarger than the entire budget of the U.S. Department of Energy. It isinteresting to note that Exxon's windfall lifted the combined profits of the2005 oil giants to $63 billion, three times the size of the entire Department ofEnergy. His energy budget is anti-life.

There are people freezing and getting flu around this country because theyhave to set their thermostats down. His budget is anti-life. He refuses to seethose people.

If the President was serious about helping people, he would be committed tomaking our Nation energy independent. He would have made new fuels acenterpiece of his State of the Union address. Instead, his budget eliminatesall funding for new fuels to help expand the production of ethanol and biodiesel.His budget cuts renewable energy loans, bioenergy support value-added to helpsmall companies get a start up. By almost $100 million he shortchanges them.

And yet if we look at oil company profits, they have allowed CEOs in thosefirms to double their salaries and drive up their political contributions by astaggering $450 million in the past 6 years. They know how to cash in. But whata great injustice to the vast majority of people. Their heating bills are goingup. They are paying for gasoline. They do not have any sweetheart deals in thistown to cut their taxes.

If you look at the weatherization program, the President is reducing fundsthere. If you look at the winter heating assistance program, the peopleapplying have reached a 12-year high, but his budget is over $2 billion short,$2 billion short of what is needed just to take care of the people that weneeded to take care of last year. But the oil companies have a $63 billionprofit, just the top three companies. What is wrong with this picture?

He has cut first responders. We know he has not gotten help to peopleaffected by Katrina and Rita in the gulf.

And this says nothing about how his budget is anti-life against the youth ofour country and children by causing tuition to go up at all of our schools. TheBush budget fails the moral test. It fails the ill. It fails our youth. Itfails the future. It is the most anti-life budget in American history.