Kent Conrad: “I say to my colleagues, it is not just in Medicaid. They are cutting foster care. They are cutting child support…”

“I say to my colleagues, it is not just in Medicaid. They are cutting foster care. They are cutting child support enforcement. You have to ask yourself: What can they be thinking? The President's 2006 budget cites the child support program as one of the highest rated block/formula grants of all reviewed programs government-wide. This is a program that epitomizes the value of parental responsibility--increasing family self-sufficiency, decreasing public assistance use, reducing out-of-wedlock births and discouraging divorces. That is what the Center for Law and Social Policy said on November 17 of this year. And we have a bill before us that cuts child support. One has to wonder, What are they thinking? What are the priorities that are contained here, priorities that cut the spending $40 billion by targeting those who are the least fortunate among us--$40 billion over 5 years. It is only $8 billion a year. The first year it is only $5 billion of savings in a $2.5 trillion budget. That is one five- hundredth of the budget, and then they cut the taxes, especially for the wealthiest among us, much more. So, when you put the two together, they have increased the deficit, not reduced it; they have increased the debt, not reduced it at the very time the debt is exploding before the baby boomers even retire, which will put even more pressure on our budget. This is a budget that makes no sense. It makes no sense.…”