Cory Booker: “So this bothers me for two reasons, and the first you have already mentioned, is this is the point of the bipartisan…”

“So this bothers me for two reasons, and the first you have already mentioned, is this is the point of the bipartisan work that we do. I talked about Chris Murphy and the bipartisan gun bill that lots of people here worked on with Senator Cornyn and others and how upset my State is that some of that community violence intervention money that I worked so hard to get in that bill is being clawed back by a President. There are people in this room, I know so many of you, and I know on the other side that have done such great work to work with our colleagues, to find common ground, and get really important programs passed that bring resources to families, and it is being clawed back by our President--not with consultation, not with a hearing, not with a discussion of even why you would target Alzheimer's research. That is a violation of the separation of powers, and I wish my Republican colleagues would hold more hearings about that. These are programs they like. I saw them with USAID. I worked with Marco Rubio on some of those programs and those investments that have now been cut and clawed back. So it is a separation of powers issues. It is an offense to the common goals we share in this community of leaders. But the second reason it bothers me is an article I read hours ago by Fareed Zakaria. He talked about what is happening to a nation that cuts so dramatically what is one of the best taxpayer investment dollars in biomedical sciences.…”