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Pelosi: Bush Budget More of the Same - More for Special Interests, More Deficits

February 6, 2006

Pelosi: Bush Budget More of the Same - More for Special Interests, More Deficits

Monday, February 6, 2006

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today regarding the release of President Bush's budget:

?Instead of showing real leadership with a budget that reflects the values and meets the needs of the American people, today the President has given us more of the same - more for special interests and even more deficits. President Bush's budget shows an absence of credibility and commitment to the real issues affecting the American people - such as health care and gas and home heating prices - while spending away the futures of our children's children with out-of-control deficits.

?Every family knows that budgets are about choices. In his budget, President Bush has chosen to put special interests, such as big business HMOs, first, while slashing funding for health care. Instead of reducing the spiraling costs of health care, or doing more to insure the 46 million people who do not have health insurance, the Bush budget reduces the quality of Medicare services for our seniors, while it makes it more expensive for some to receive care. America's seniors are already struggling with the befuddling Medicare prescription drug bill; the President's priorities are simply wrong.

?The President's budget does not meet the challenge of energy independence that he laid out in his State of the Union address. For instance, his additional funding for alternative fuels amounts to less than 7 percent of the profits made by ExxonMobil's in just the last three months of 2005.

?Democrats are committed to a federal budget that reflects the real priorities of America's working families. That means putting the peoples' interests first, not catering to the Republican special interests.?