Congressman Dennis Cardoza
18th Congressional District of California

"This budget neglects vital needs in education, homeland security, veterans benefits, agriculture, and health care," Cardoza said. "And instead of working to solve our serious fiscal problems, it only plunges our nation even deeper into debt. In short, this budget manages to mortgage our future without making a dent in our biggest problems."

Most appallingly, the Republican budget underfunded homeland security funding by nearly $1 billion from the President’s request. It also provides $1.3 billion less than a bipartisan recommendation from the Veterans Committee. "At a time when our nation faces continued threats, now is not the time to redirect resources from homeland security to tax cuts and mistreat our veterans," Cardoza said.

Cardoza supported a fiscally responsible budget alternative put forth by the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 38 moderate to conservative Democrats. The Blue Dog budget presented a clear strategy for getting our nation out of a growing fiscal mess by cutting mounting deficits in half within two years. It would control spending while fully funding important needs, particularly defense and homeland security.

Specifically, the Blue Dog budget contained strong budget enforcement measures, including discretionary spending limits and pay as you go rules that apply to all legislation that increase the deficit. In addition, the plan restructured tax cuts to benefit the middle class by extending family tax relief, marriage penalty relief and the expanded 10 percent tax bracket for one year.

"When you find yourself in a hole, the first rule is to stop digging," Cardoza said. "If we continue to ignore the long-term consequences of our irresponsible budgetary actions, future generations will pay a steep price. The Blue Dog budget takes care of our nation’s priorities, extends tax cuts to the middle class, and holds the line on spending."