Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said President Obama's budget blueprint for next year makes investments in education that will pay economic dividends for years to come.

The president today unveiled his budget proposal, which is used by Congress as a starting point for the 13 spending bills it must write to fund federal initiatives. Overall, the proposal freezes spending at 2010 levels. But, by cutting some initiatives, the White House was able to increase education spending by 4.3 percent.

"Like the president, I believe we must begin to tackle our nation's deficit. But I also agree that we should not make budget cuts that will hurt us economically in the long run," Bingaman said. "By investing in education now, we are putting the building blocks in place that will allow us to create the high-paying jobs of the future."

Specifically, the president's proposal contains a $300 million increase for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is distributed by formula to high-poverty areas to support the education of disadvantaged children. And it invests $350 million in the Early Learning Challenge Fund that funds prepare young people for success in school.

The plan also invests $206 million to improve the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, especially in high-need schools.

To help students pay for college, the president's proposal sets aside $36.1 billion in Pell Grant awards to assist nearly 9.6 million low-income students pay for college.

Bingaman said he was disappointed that the president proposes zeroing out federal funding for Advanced Placement, an initiative Bingaman strongly supports because it gives economically disadvantaged students access to high-quality, rigorous classes.

"As Congress acts to fix the No Child Left Bingaman Act later this year, I look forward to working with President Obama and my Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure we maintain a deep commitment to helping disadvantaged students get a high-quality education," Bingaman said.

Bingaman said he was disappointed that the president proposes zeroing out federal funding for Advanced Placement, an initiative Bingaman strongly supports because it gives economically disadvantaged students access to high-quality, rigorous classes.

"As Congress acts to fix the No Child Left Behind Act later this year, I look forward to working with President Obama and my Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure we maintain a deep commitment to helping disadvantaged students get a high-quality education," Bingaman said.

The president's health care budget strongly supports initiatives set out in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) – the new health insurance reform law. For instance, it sets aside $3.8 billion in funding for new insurance industry oversight, creation of health care exchanges, and high risk pools.

The budget also includes a two-year Medicare physician payment or Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) fix, ensuring that doctors who treat Medicare patients will not receive pay cuts. And it continues to close the "donut hole" – the gap many seniors enrolled in Medicare's prescription drug plan experience during which their medications are not paid for, even though they are required to pay premiums. Under the president's FY 2012 proposal, Medicare beneficiaries are expected to save $562 annually. By 2020, this will grow to $1,540.

At Bingaman's urging, the budget also includes a request for $3 million to fund the National Workforce Commission – an independent, nonpartisan panel that will provide recommendations to Congress and the President on how to address workforce shortages in much of New Mexico and other underserved communities. Separately, the proposal provides a total of $1.26 billion to train of primary care providers interested in working in healthcare shortage areas. In total, funding will support training for more than 4,000 additional health care professionals. This includes an increase of $14 million for the National Health Service corps including funding mandate by the Affordable Care Act.

The budget proposal increases state allotments in the State Children's Health Insurance Program to $9.7 billion (an increase of $812 million mandated by the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009).

Finally, the budget proposal provides $4.6 billion (an increase of $572 million) for the Indian health service, including an increase to $949 million (an increase of $169 million) for the Contract health services program.

"The new health insurance reform law will have a great impact on our state. It will improve the quality of care that is offered, and extend care to those who currently don't have it," Bingaman said. "President Obama's health care budget will help put this new law to work in our state."