Cord Byrd: “after many long years of flawed budget policies that have eroded our Nation's infrastructure and recklessly taken from…”

“after many long years of flawed budget policies that have eroded our Nation's infrastructure and recklessly taken from the health and safety of American working families, the Senate finally has an opportunity to change course. The President has submitted a grossly inadequate budget request for the fiscal year 2008, built around the erroneous premise that tax cuts are sacrosanct. I reject that argument. I hope that my colleagues will reject that argument. The President's budget includes $2 trillion of new tax cuts, many of which will benefit those who least need them. In order to fund those tax breaks, the President cuts the programs that working Americans rely on the most. The President proposes to cut the Medicare and Medicaid Programs, which provide health care to seniors and children. He proposes to cut funding for housing for the elderly in rural America. He proposes to cut funding for first responder programs, jeopardizing the safety of our firefighters and law enforcement officers, and those of us whom they protect. He proposes to cut funding for our children and schools, for health care research and rural hospitals, and for our communities and economic development. The President is proposing to take an awful lot from working American families in order to pay for his tax breaks. His budget cuts are not funding the troops overseas, or being used to pay down the national debt.”