U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

December 21, 2005

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Press Secretary

                        202-228-3630

Jen Clanahan – Deputy Press Secretary

                        303-455-7600

 

Sen. Salazar Statement on Unfair Budget Reconciliation Bill Which Passed the Senate by a Vote of 51 to 50 Today
Vice-President Cheney Broke the Tie

WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Ken Salazar released the following statement in response to today’s floor action on the Budget Reconciliation Bill in the Senate:

“I opposed this bill today because it fails to put our Nation on the sound, responsible fiscal course we so desperately need to be on.

“This bill will not balance the budget and it will devastate the most vulnerable Americans.

“It does not, as its title claims, decrease the deficit. Rather, when the reconciliation package is considered in its entirety, it increases the deficit and piles on the national debt.

“It cuts $400 million from rural development, a program that Undersecretary Dorr and I discussed last month during his visit to rural Colorado. It cuts $10.1 billion over 10 years from Medicaid funding. It cuts student aid by more than $12 billion, meaning tens of thousands of Americans will be told that they just can’t go to college.

“This bill is a down-payment on billions in tax cuts for millionaires that Leadership is expected to bring to the floor next year.

“This budget sends a clear message to America – families working hard to make ends meet simply don’t matter in Washington. I will not be a part of that. They deserve better.”

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