Patty Murray: “I rise to support the Baucus amendment as opposed to the Cornyn amendment. I am thrilled this budget before us addresses…”

“I rise to support the Baucus amendment as opposed to the Cornyn amendment. I am thrilled this budget before us addresses health care in a responsible way in the amendment from this side. We provide up to $50 billion for this critical Children's Health Insurance Program over the next 15 years that will allow eligible children, who are not today enrolled, to be able to get the coverage they so necessarily need, and it is a critical step. I commend the authors on this side and Senator Conrad for his tremendous work on that amendment. I rise also to thank Senator Conrad for his tremendous leadership in finally bringing us a budget that redirects the priorities of America's working families. Our families across the country want us to focus on strengthening our country from within. That starts by investing at home in our schools, as Senator Kennedy talked about, and in our infrastructure, and in our communities. That is exactly what this budget does. It still provides every dollar the President asked for for Defense spending over the next 5 years. Americans want us to make investments in our future in a responsible way. Every family knows the importance of fiscal discipline and the importance of keeping a balanced budget. They expect the Federal Government to share that responsibility. With this budget, we are restoring an important pay-as-you-go rule that means we are being responsible today, and we are not burdening our grandchildren with new debt tomorrow.”