On the recordMay 17, 2018
as a member of the Senate Budget Committee, I am disappointed that Republican leaders have not even begun the process of debating a budget for the upcoming year in our committee. The United States needs a budget that addresses our national debt, which is increasing significantly faster due to a Republican tax plan that delivers huge windfalls to millionaires, billionaires, and multinational corporations. Unfortunately, the budget proposal we considered today would take health coverage from tens of millions of Americans because its massive spending cuts would almost certainly mean huge reductions in Medicare and Medicaid. This budget would also make it harder for struggling families to afford food, housing, and childcare, and it would slash vital economic investments in infrastructure, education, and scientific research. At the same time, this budget does not achieve even one penny of deficit reduction from reducing the tax cuts that Republicans just provided to those at the top. I will not support a budget that is balanced on the backs of working families and the middle class. We need a budget that invests in our future, supports a basic standard of living for all Americans, and safeguards our health and safety. This budget proposal fails to do so, which is why I voted against the motion to proceed to its consideration. ____________________
