Barbara Boxer: “I will vote against the omnibus appropriations bill. I agree that it is important to complete work on the fiscal year…”

“I will vote against the omnibus appropriations bill. I agree that it is important to complete work on the fiscal year 2003 appropriations bills. But, while it is important to pass a bill, that does not mean we should pass this bill. Last year, the Democratic-led Appropriations Committee completed its work on all 13 appropriations bills. The new Republican majority took those bills and had one mission: cut, cut, cut. The FBI was cut $388 million, eliminating over 1000 FBI agents and surveillance aircraft used to respond to terrorist attacks. The Food Safety Inspection Service was cut $28 million, eliminating over 600 food safety inspectors. The National Institutes of Health was cut $809 million, reducing the budget for biodefense by 46 percent and abandoning the plan to double the health research budget over five years--a goal that I worked to establish when I was a member of the Senate Budget Committee. The Veterans Administration was cut $692 million, meaning that over 200,000 veterans will go without medical services and another 200,000 will remain on the waiting list for care. Head Start was cut over $395 million, depriving over 21,000 children of early education.”