Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said President Barack Obama’s 2010 budget proposal is good for New Mexicans because it gives priority to health care, education and science.

“The Obama administration has prepared a budget that gives priority to the issues that matter most to our state.  It outlines a plan for containing health care costs, and using the savings to extend coverage to more Americans.  The president’s budget proposal makes a commitment to our country’s future by investing in education.  And it funds important scientific initiatives at national labs, some of which will help us rebuild our economy and regain our competitive edge,” Bingaman said.  “This is a great blueprint for Congress to use as we develop our spending bills later this year.”

In the coming weeks, the White House will be providing Congress with greater detail of its budget proposal.  But the plan unveiled today shows that the president is focused on domestic priorities Bingaman has long championed.

For example, the budget proposal would set aside $630 million over the next 10 years to develop a comprehensive healthcare proposal that would assure Americans access to both meaningful and affordable healthcare.  It also describes important improvements and modernizations to the healthcare system including federal healthcare programs such a Medicaid and Medicare. 

In particular, it lends support to several Bingaman reforms – one that improves Medicare quality and efficiency and reduces Medicare costs to beneficiaries and the government by paying for a group of healthcare services provided in a set period of time instead of paying for services on a case-by-case basis. 

It also supports a long-time Bingaman proposal that would reduce Medicaid costs by allowing states to collect rebates on prescription medications.  It also includes $330 million to improve the healthcare workforce in rural and other underserved communities, a long-standing priority for Bingaman.  

The White House proposal also provides a 16 percent increase in the National Science Foundation’s budget, much of which is used to fund medical research.

The Obama proposal would fund the initiatives of the America COMPETES Act – a law that Bingaman helped write with the goal of increasing investments in science R&D, and math and science education. 

In terms of Department of Energy funding, the plan keeps funding roughly on par with 2009 spending.  It would increase funding for nonproliferation of nuclear materials, and support the work of Sandia and Los Alamos laboratories through its funding of stockpile stewardship programs. 

The president’s budget also recognizes the importance of investing in education and aims to boost funding from $46.2 billion in FY 2009 to $64.5 billion in 2014.  The proposal also would provide funding to help states invest in and expand access to high-quality early childhood education.  Additionally, the proposal places significant emphasis on college affordability and would invest approximately $116.8 billion over the next decade to raise Pell grants to $5,500 per year starting in the 2009-2010 school year and make the Pell Grant program a mandatory expenditure that will be indexed to inflation and increased annually.

The president’s 2010 Budget lays the groundwork for future establishment of a system of automatic workplace pensions, to operate alongside Social Security, that is expected to dramatically increase both the number of Americans who save for retirement and the overall amount of personal savings for individuals.  The President’s budget picks up Bingaman’s “Automatic IRA” bill, which Bingaman first introduced in 2006.  Under Bingaman’s bill, employers who do not currently offer a retirement plan will be required to enroll their employees in a direct-deposit IRA account that is compatible with existing direct-deposit payroll systems.   Employees may opt-out if they choose.  Although no employer match is required, this provision would enable hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans to save for retirement through regular contributions from their paychecks.

The president’s budget also would invest in the following:

Indian Country

·         Includes an additional $4 billion for healthcare to Native Americans through the Indian Health Service;

·         More than $100 million in increased funding to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for law enforcement and education

Department of Health and Human Services

·         The President’s budget invests an additional $73 million to improve the quality of healthcare being provided in rural communities;

·         Accelerates the adoption of health information technology to bring the American healthcare system into the 21st century and improve the quality and efficiency of care;

·         Identifies as a major goal and provides resources to reduce health disparities among ethnic and racial minorities;

Department of Veterans Affairs

·         The President plans to increase funding for the VA by $25 billion above the baseline over the next five years;

·         The FY2010 increase will provide adequate resources to give 5.5 million veteran patients timely and high quality care;

·         Expands eligibility for VA health care to nondisabled veterans earning modest incomes.  This expansion will bring over 500,000 eligible veterans into the VA health care system by 2013;

·         Expands the mental health screening and treatment services offered by VA and focuses on reaching veterans in rural areas. The VA will increase the number of Vet Centers and mobile health clinics to expand access to mental health screening and treatment in rural areas;

·         For the first time, highly disabled veterans who are medically retired from service will be eligible for concurrent receipt of disability benefits from VA in addition to Department of Defense retirement benefits;

·         Expands VA’s current services to homeless veterans through a collaborative pilot program with non-profit organizations;

·         Provides the resources for effective implementation of the post-9/11 GI Bill.

Department of Interior/USDA Forest Service

·         $346 million for USDA Forest Service;

·         $12 billion for Department of Interior;

·         $100 million increase for the National Park Service;

·         Establishes a dedicated fund for catastrophic wildfires and fully funds the 10-year average fire suppression costs at $1.1 billion, coupled with program reforms that ensure fire management resources are focused where they will do the most good.

Department of Homeland Security

·         $368 million for Customs and Border Protection.

Department of Agriculture

·         $20 billion in loans and grants to support and expand rural development activities, including small businesses, renewable energy and telecommunication;

·         The budget fully funds the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Department of Housing and Urban Development

• $4.5 billion for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.  Will revamp the program through a more effective formula, incentives, and the new Sustainable Communities Initiative.  CDBG funds are vital to communities for economic development programs that benefit low and very low income communities around the country.
• $1 billion to fund the Affordable Housing Trust Fund for the first time.  Funding will provide a permanent source of financing for badly needed affordable housing programs across the country;
• $1 billion per year for the Children Nutrition reauthorization.

Small Business Administration

$17.5 billion to the Guaranteed Loan program a vital source of revolving credit for small businesses