Regrettably, the budget resolution conference report passed by the House of Representatives this week fails to do that.

Instead, this budget raids the Medicare Trust Fund to pay for an inadequate prescription drug benefit plan that does not cover all seniors, which is especially troubling in light of a new study released earlier in the week showing that prescription drug costs increased by nearly $132 billion this year.  We must provide prescription drug coverage for all seniors without dipping into Medicare money already reserved for doctor and hospital visits, and we should do it now.

This budget does not devote a single dollar other than Social Security and Medicare trust fund monies to paying down the national debt.  I believe that is wrong.  The Social Security and Medicare trust funds were created to provide Social Security and Medicare benefits to our seniors, and they should not be used to pay for tax cuts or other spending.

This budget also depends on surpluses being projected over the next 10 years by the same bureaucrats that missed the mark by $700 billion last year, while most of the projected surplus does not occur until after the year 2006.  If these projections are off by just 2%, this budget puts us right back into deficit spending.

This is America, and we must do better by our seniors and working families.  As a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, I support a budget that protects Social Security and Medicare, pays down the national debt, and truly addresses important priorities such as education, agriculture, defense, and providing real prescription drug coverage for all seniors.