John Kerry: “I voted against the Republican budget resolution when it came before the Senate. I told this body my reason which…”

“I voted against the Republican budget resolution when it came before the Senate. I told this body my reason which distills to one simple truth: It does not reflect the priorities of the American people. Sadly, as soon as Members of the House of Representatives had their say in the budget, as soon as the influence of the Speaker of the House was brought to bear in the conference committee, a bad budget was rendered even worse. Mr. President, the bill which lies before us is in fact the Newt Gingrich budget. After the drubbing the Republican Party took last year for holding hostage the Government and those its services help as those Republicans sought their scorched Earth budget at all costs, some of the rougher edges have been slightly rounded, some of the more severe slashes have been moderated. But this is unmistakably a budget without a heart, a budget that has no concept of investment for the future of our country and its people. When we first considered the budget for the next fiscal year, I tried to improve the bill by restoring funds for environmental protection and conservation efforts, for education--the Gingrich budget marks the largest education cut in history--and I tried to trim unnecessary defense spending to the level requested by the President. But then as now, the Republican Party has moved in lockstep to prevent us from providing services that the American people urgently need.”