That is why I voted against the Republican Budget Resolution this week.

When President Bush took office 3 years ago, the cumulative federal budget surplus for the next ten years was projected to be about $5.6 trillion.

Three years later, we have huge, expanding deficits “as far as the eye can see.”  Last year’s deficit was a record at nearly $400 billion; this year’s is expected to be another record at $521 billion!  And over the next ten years, we can now expect a cumulative deficit of $4 trillion.

Two questions frame the budget debate in Washington and how we answer them will mean a lot to every family on the Central Coast:  where did all that money go and what are we going to do now? 

First, where did the money go? 

The President lays blame for the deficit on the recession that started soon after he took office, the devastating attacks of 9-11, corporate scandals, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All of these had a role.  But the President conveniently leaves out the cost of the nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts passed in the last three years and that he has called for in his budget.  The bulk of the tax cuts had little to do with restarting the economy or making the tax code more fair.  In fact, more than a third of the tax cuts go to the wealthiest 1% in our society. 

When we have well over 100,000 troops in harm’s way in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the globe, and we must spend billions more for homeland security, we simply cannot afford these tax cuts.

So what do we do now?

Unfortunately, the President and the Republican-led Congress have proposed a budget plan that just keeps digging us into a deeper hole. They propose hundreds of billions of dollars in more tax cuts, the vast majority of which again go overwhelmingly to the wealthy.  And because these tax cuts keep driving up the deficit, the Republican budget proposes to cut funding for a number of critical programs, including education, transportation and veterans’ health care. 

For example, the budget provides $1.3 billion less than what the Republican Chairman of the House Veterans Committee says it will take just to maintain current veterans health care services.  Not living up to our commitment to provide veterans with health care is bad enough; doing so while tens of thousands of military troops face danger in faraway lands is simply unconscionable.

This budget also underfunds the “Leave No Child Behind Act” by more than $9 billion from what was promised.  And the budget continues to leave unfulfilled the federal government’s commitment to help local school districts meet federally mandated laws regarding special education.  These two federal mandates cost our local school districts millions of dollars each year and the federal government should pay its fair share of this burden.

The Republican budget also underfunds transportation needs by tens of billions of dollars.  Today, California only gets 90 cents back for every dollar it pays in gas taxes.  This unfairness won’t be rectified and our ability to fix local transportation problems will be delayed under this budget.

I supported a more common sense alternative budget, one that ensures our national security and meets our domestic needs as well. 

By scaling back the President’s massive tax cuts for the wealthiest in our country, my plan would free up billions of dollars to help our vets with their health care, improve the quality of public education, meet our transportation needs and our many other national challenges. 

Most importantly, it would allow us to reduce the deficit now by tens of billions of dollars and put us on the path to a balanced budget, something the Republican budget doesn’t even contemplate.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before the Budget Committee a couple of weeks ago and he framed the choice for Congress perfectly.  He supports the President’s call for making all the tax cuts permanent.  But he also noted how the huge budget deficits – which are greatly enlarged by the tax cuts – mean we have to cut federal spending.  His solution: reduce Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age.

That is the basically the choice being made by the Republican-led Congress and the President:  endless tax cuts for the wealthiest to be paid for by cuts in Social Security, public education, veterans’ health and other important needs for working families.

I don’t think that choice represents American values and it certainly doesn’t represent mine.  That is why I voted against this reckless plan.

This op-ed was also printed in the Ventura County Star on March 26 and in the San Luis Obispo Tribune on March 25.