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

February 6, 2006

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Comm. Director

                        303-455-7600

Andrew Nannis  – Press Secretary

                        202-224-5852


 Sen. Salazar: President’s Budget Shores up Defense, but Ignores Rural America

WASHINGTON - United States Senator Ken Salazar, (D-CO) released his statement on the President’s FY 07 Budget.

“Overall, I support the Administration’s efforts to ensure strong support for Defense and Homeland Security priorities by increasing funding up to $439 billion and for funding programs at Pueblo Chemical Depot, but I am concerned that this budget turns its back on rural America.

“I am pleased with the President’s Defense and Homeland Security budget and that he has funded programs to destroy old chemical weapons stored at Pueblo Chemical Depot. We have worked to ensure Colorado received adequate funding for this program and the President’s commitment of $128.8 million for Pueblo is certainly a significant pledge.

“I am concerned about the devastating cuts to agriculture programs, the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program and Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs) because these cuts hit Colorado and other rural states especially hard. The President’s budget proposes cutting farm program spending by $1 billion; conservation programs by $220 million; rural development programs by $308 million; and agricultural research by $382 million. Fifty-seven of Colorado’s 64 counties rely on PILT to support their education and transportation infrastructure; while rural communities across the state utilize CDBGs to bring new business vitality to their areas.

“Additionally, while the President has made encouraging overtures to the future of renewable energy and clean energy technologies in America, with an eye toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil, his proposed budget does the opposite. After devastating cuts last year to the Department of Energy’s primary research facility, the National Renewable Energy Lab, the President would slash another 6 percent from NREL’s operating budget in FY07. I will work with my colleagues in the Senate to find a bipartisan solution to this critical problem. Similarly, the President’s proposal to fund the Clean Coal Power Initiative with only $5 million when $200 million was authorized in the energy bill we passed just last year shows the budget is headed in the wrong direction.”

“The Administration also ignores the booming deficit; the budget doesn’t count the true costs of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism. As deficits spiral out of control, mounting loads of debt on our children and grandchildren it is becoming clearer and clearer that we must enact ‘pay as you go’ budget provisions to create an era of budget responsibility.”

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