Robert Smith: “I am interested in that, but I am not interested in breaking this budget agreement, if it means that we are breaking our…”

“I am interested in that, but I am not interested in breaking this budget agreement, if it means that we are breaking our promises to the American people. Republicans and Democrats alike-- neither side, frankly--are thrilled with every provision of this budget, but the truth is, a lot of promises are being kept with this budget. Ultimately, it comes into balance, but in addition to that, we are protecting essential programs, we are cutting taxes, and we are balancing budgets. I think that is what America expects. I think that is what they want, and overriding all of our individual little concerns, I think they want us to keep our word on balancing the budget. In defense of this Congress, I think it is important to point out that since 1990, funding for Head Start has tripled. It ought to do better, but it ought not to do so at the expense of the promises we have made to cut the tax burden on the American people. In addition, children's programming is a priority in this budget. We have funded Head Start at the President's requested level of an additional $2.7 billion over 5 years. We provided $1 billion for this program last year and an additional $4.5 billion for child care through the welfare reform bill. So it is not like we are insensitive to this. In fact, many of us would like to do more.”