Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said President Obama’s budget blueprint for next year prioritizes education – a move that will help New Mexico and the nation build a strong economy for decades into the future. 

            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 White House proposal requests a 2.5 percent increase ($1.7 billion) in education spending to a level of $69.8 billion. The increase reflects support for some new initiatives including a heightened investment in supporting post-secondary education while consolidating or eliminating funding for several existing, smaller programs.

Funding remains even for several major education initiatives that provide funding to states, such as Title I that distributes funding by formula to high-poverty areas to support the education of disadvantaged children, special education, and school improvement grants that support the implementation of school intervention models for the lowest performing schools.

Similarly, funding levels that support Aid for Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities would not be changed.

“President Obama is doing the right thing by increasing our investment in education,” Bingaman said.  “Rebuilding our economy now and keeping it strong for the future requires us to make a major investment in our nation’s students.  I am very glad the president is giving priority to both elementary education and college affordability.” 

The president’s proposal also focuses heavily on helping Americans earn a college degree.  To help students pay for college, the president’s proposal sets aside $36.5 billion in Pell Grant awards to assist nearly 9.7 million low-income students pay for college.  The request increases the maximum Pell award to $5,635 in the 2013-2014 award year, up from $5,550 for the 2012-2013 award year.

Bingaman is also pleased that the president took steps to maintain the 3.4 percent interest rate for subsidized loans for undergraduates.  Without Congressional action, rates will increase to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2012.

The president also proposes an extension of the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC).  Extending this tax credit provides a partially refundable tax credit of up to $10,000 over 4 years, helping an estimated 47,000 New Mexicans in tax year 2011. 

Additionally, the proposed budget increased Work-Study funds by $150 million. This increase will provide approximately 100,000 more students the opportunity to participate in the Work-Study program. 

            Bingaman said he was disappointed that the president proposes zeroing out federal funding specifically for Advanced Placement, an initiative Bingaman strongly supports because it gives economically disadvantaged students access to high-quality, rigorous classes.  But he will work to see that the Department of Education continues to fund AP exam fees and professional development.

            In addition to making investments in education, the president’s budget blueprint allows us to continue to focus on expanding health care access in New Mexico. 

            The president’s plan strongly supports the health care provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – the new health insurance reform law that will greatly benefit our state.  In preparation for the millions of additional Americans who will become insured, the budget contains $677 million to expand the primary care, dental and pediatric health care workforce and improve distribution to parts of the country that are currently underserved.  Specifically, investments will help train more than 2.800 primary care doctors over the next five years. 

            “New Mexico has one of the highest rates of uninsured residents in the country.  The Affordable Care Act will give health care access to thousands of New Mexicans.  This budget proposal does a very good job funding these major health care priorities,” Bingaman said. 

The budget plan supports fixing the Medicare physician payment, or Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), formula.  Such a fix would ensure that doctors who treat Medicare patients will not receive pay cuts this year.  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 2013 proposal, Medicare beneficiaries are expected to save $632 annually.  By 2020, this will grow to $1,540.  Last year, 18,755 New Mexicans receive the gap discount and saved a combined total of more than $9.2 million. 

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. 

The proposal continues critical funding for health centers by providing $7.3 billion over the 2013-2015 period for comprehensive, high quality, primary and preventative health care services to all Americans regardless of ability to pay.  In 2013, health centers are estimated to serve 21 million patients.   In addition, the budget promotes a policy of steady and sustainable health center growth. 

The budget proposal provides $4.9 billion (an increase of $107 million) for the Indian Health Service, including an increase of to $$898 million (an increase of $52 million) for the Contract Health Service Program.

The president’s proposal strengthens the safety net for Americans who are suffering during these difficult economic times:

• $82 billion for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamps Program).
• $20 billion for Child Nutrition Programs, including the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Milk Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. This includes $45 million to provide competitive grants to state agencies for subgrants to local educational agencies and schools to purchase the equipment needed to serve healthier meals, improve food safety, and to help support the establishment, maintenance, or expansion of the school breakfast program.
• $7 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
• The budget proposal provides $254 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which supports programs such as the Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs and the distribution of commodities to rural areas.