Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today released the following statement on the budget proposals before Congress -- President Obama's budget for Fiscal Year 2012 and the House Republican proposal to continue funding for the government in Fiscal Year 2011. Harkin is Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Education.
"The time has come for tough budget decisions. The smart way to bringing down the deficit is for Congress to pursue a balanced approach of major spending cuts and necessary revenue increases, while continuing to make urgent investments in education, infrastructure, and research -- the things that are essential to our sustained economic expansion in the years ahead.
"The President's budget makes tough choices for the future. I do not agree with everything, especially proposed cuts that will make it harder for communities to address poverty. Overall, however, the President has proposed a balanced approach, including a freeze in discretionary spending overall, eliminating some wasteful weapons systems, and ending tax breaks granted in 2001 and 2003 to individuals making over $250,000. The President's approach stands in stark contrast to the House Republican proposal, which overwhelmingly targets programs serving our neediest citizens, while offering no hope for the job creation that Americans so desperately need.
"The House Republicans' proposal takes a meat cleaver to education funding, from early childhood through college. They would eliminate comprehensive early childhood services for hundreds of thousands of low-income children, and slash the maximum Pell Grant for eight million needy students. By contrast, even in the context of a tight budget, the President makes education a priority -- allowing our kids and Iowa communities to compete in the global economy.
"House Republicans also propose savage cuts in funding for community health centers, terminating access for more than two million people to their current primary care provider, and jeopardizing thousands of jobs in health centers across the country. When low-income Americans cannot access this critical care, it means a tidal wave of people turning to emergency rooms when their untreated illnesses reach an acute stage. And that costs everybody.
"As we work to cut the deficit, we need to do so in a way that doesn't imperil our fragile economic recovery or kill jobs just as they are returning to Iowa communities. The Republican budget fails this test. It would eliminate funding for essential job training and reemployment services to nearly eight million Americans annually, including workers who have lost their jobs as a result of plant closings or mass layoffs, low-income individuals, and disadvantaged youth. Funding for local law enforcement would also be indiscriminately slashed, which means communities in Iowa and around the country would have to lay off police officers. The Republican budget proposal would be a body blow to jobs and the economic recovery in our rural communities, including sharp reductions in funding for renewable energy, agricultural conservation, and rural economic development.
"The very different budgets proposed by Republicans in Congress and by the President offer competing visions of America. The President's would significantly reduce the deficit, but would also secure the future with targeted investments in our kids and our communities. Republicans in Congress would pursue drastic, indiscriminate cuts to education, health care, and thousands of jobs, even as they protect tax cuts for the wealthy and other measures that would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit. It is time we look toward the future with a budget that truly cuts the deficit, but which also works for America. And to do that, Congress must come together on bipartisan basis."