John Sarbanes: “I commend my very able colleague from Massachusetts for a very powerful statement about the priorities in this budget.…”

“I commend my very able colleague from Massachusetts for a very powerful statement about the priorities in this budget. He is absolutely right. The budget resolution is the single most important document we deal with in the Congress because it contains within it thousands of decisions that are critical to our national life, all of which reflect our choices about priorities. As the Senator pointed out, this budget resolution makes it a priority to keep tax loopholes for large corporations, many of which induce them to send jobs overseas, rather than closing those loopholes--which have been overwhelmingly supported by the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats--in order to fund education. It is a clear example of the wrong set of priorities. I thank the Senator, first for his leadership in the Senate which got that amendment adopted, which would have done something for education in this country, and for articulating so well what is at stake here as we move ahead. The budget presents very fundamental questions to us. What do we establish as priorities? Which programs are important? How do we balance programs with tax cuts, with deficit reduction? In my view, this budget does not reflect the right answers. It contains substantial cuts in a number of important domestic programs, including Medicaid, education, affordable housing--the list goes on and on. The justification for these cuts is that we have a deficit problem to deal with.…”