REP. ANDREWS VOTES “NO” ON 2006 FEDERAL BUDGET AND MEDICAID CUTS

On April 28, 2005, I voted against the proposed 2006 federal budget in the House of Representatives. This budget borrows money from our children for expenditures we cannot afford today. Such excessive borrowing is detrimental to all Americans as it forces up interest rates, endangers jobs, and burdens our future growth. Rather than make difficult choices and reduce spending, this budget simply raises the debt limit by $781 billion dollars. This is not sound fiscal policy for an individual with a credit card and is certainly not prudent for our country. It is my conviction that the $106 billion in new deficit-financed tax cuts should be scaled back as half of this money only reaches two percent of households with the highest income.

In addition, the 2006 budget threatens our health care system. It cuts between $10 and $14.7 billion to Medicaid, which will hurt nursing home patients and working families alike. Reducing healthcare to those who need it will prove to be far more costly to our nation’s physical and fiscal health. This budget does nothing to bring down the cost of healthcare.

Medicaid is not the only priority neglected by this budget. Healthcare funding for our honored veterans is under-funded by $13.5 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office. Under-funding to programs such as Special Education and No Child Left Behind will raise our property taxes. As this budget does not practice fiscal discipline and does not prioritize Medicaid and other fundamental programs, it did not receive my support.

The House passed the budget 214-211 and the Senate passed the budget 52-47. In order to track the progress of the budget, H.CON.RES.95, please visit http://thomas.loc.gov.

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