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Press Releases
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For Immediate Release
February 4, 2008 |
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STATEMENT ON THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET PROPROSAL |
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Washington, D.C. - Congressman David Price (D-NC) issued the following statement today in response to President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget proposal:
“With today’s release of the President’s budget, we are witnessing the continuation of a pattern that we have seen throughout the Bush presidency. The President delivers his State of the Union Address to Congress at the beginning of each year, in which he pledges to build a stronger nation, but a few days later his budget request reveals spending priorities that will actually undermine our country.
“Our ability to compete in the global economy is diminished when we cut investments in research, innovation and education, which are proven engines of economic growth and prosperity. Yet the President is again proposing to freeze funding for life-saving medical research through the National Institutes of Health, and to eliminate programs supporting classroom technology and family literacy. And he seeks to eliminate the Community Development Block Grants, which, for years, have provided critical housing and employment services to low-income people throughout North Carolina and across the country.
“Our country is morally bankrupt when we fail to support struggling families during an economic downturn. The President continues to insist upon tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while proposing to drastically reduce health care investments for the poor and elderly. And as energy costs increase, he wants to cut the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, a program that helps poor Americans heat their homes.
“Our national security is threatened when the President continues a failed war policy that is costing our nation so dearly in lives and limbs, is diminishing our military’s readiness and is continuing to drain hundreds of billions from the treasury.
“And as Chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, I know that eliminating programs that support local first responders, as this budget proposes, will hinder our preparedness for disasters of all kinds. And the elimination of Justice Department programs that support local law enforcement will severely impair public safety and gang prevention efforts in our communities.
“Despite these painful cuts to critical services and investments, the President would not reverse his unsustainable course toward increased deficits and debt. He has turned a $5.6 trillion projected surplus into a $2.4 trillion deficit, adding $3.5 trillion to the national debt. And his claims that his budget will reach balance by 2012 leave out major expenses, including the ongoing war in Iraq and dealing with the Alternative Minimum Tax.
“Instead of using gimmicks and sleights of hand to claim that this budget will be balanced in the future, Congress will work on a budget blueprint that will uphold the priorities that will make America stronger, and we will do so in a fiscally responsible way.”
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