Barbara Mikulski: “the spending cut bill before us is shameful. I have always said that it is my job to look out for the day- to-day needs…”

“the spending cut bill before us is shameful. I have always said that it is my job to look out for the day- to-day needs of Marylanders and the long-term needs of the Nation. I am sorry to say this bill does neither. In the holiday season, this bill makes draconian spending cuts in critically important programs. This is not done for balancing the budget, which I support. It is done to pay for more tax cuts to the superwealthy. These spending cuts don't only hurt hard-working Americans. They chip away at the very foundation of the American dream and do so at the worst possible time. For example, we face unprecedented challenges from increased global competition. Our country has always had the ability to rise above these challenges because of America's incredible capacity to innovate. It is our responsibility to empower Americans to innovate. Unfortunately, this bill represents the wrong priorities for this country, not those held by the vast majority of Americans. Nowhere do individual and national priorities more closely converge than funding for education. Education has always been our country's greatest engine for climbing the ladder of opportunity. It is also the greatest engine for our national aspiration: that each generation will have a better life than the one that came before. International trade and outsourcing have already shuttered several of our industries and threaten to do the same to others.…”