Today, President Clinton sent to Congress his 1998 budget request which attempts to build on the economic success of the last four years and provide a balanced budget over the next five years. The President's $1.69 trillion spending plan provides for some spending increases and a number of spending cuts that produce a $17 billion surplus in five years. Some highlights of the President's budget include:
The President's budget includes $3.4 billion for AIDS programs in the Public Health Service, an increase of $95 million or 3 percent over 1997 funding. This includes modest increases in spending for AIDS research, prevention, treatment and housing programs. Given the drastic reductions in spending proposed for many other federal programs, this budget speaks to the relative priority the Administration has placed on responding to AIDS. Unfortunately, however, the budget request does not meet the demand to provide new treatments to all Americans who would benefit from them. These new drugs are very expensive and beyond the financial ability of many people with HIV disease.
On a matter of great interest to San Francisco, the President's budget includes $24.8 million for operation and maintenance of the Presidio. The Presidio Trust will work with the National Park Service in determining the use of these funds to enhance the national park and its programs. Consistent, full funding of the Presidio will allow the Trust to begin its work on a strong foundation. Other environmental funding includes $213 million for Bay-Delta projects to restore and protect San Francisco Bay and the Delta.
The Budget also includes a payment of $597,000 from the City of San Francisco to the National Park Service for the City's use of the Hetch Hetchy Water System within Yosemite National Park. This amount is consistent with the payment formula used last year for comparable water projects on federal lands. The payment will be used toward the operation and maintenance of Yosemite National Park.
President Clinton is to be commended for preparing a budget which recognizes that education is our nation's top priority and puts emphasis on creating the best education system in the world. His budget would increase federal education funding to $51 billion next year, a 20 percent increase, and to nearly $60 billion by 2002, a 40 percent increase. This funding, in combination with a 10 point plan, sets the nation on a course toward improving education for our future and helping children learn.
The President's budget calls for spending more than $21 billion in an attempt to ease the impact of the ill-conceived welfare legislation enacted in the last Congress. The President would restore Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and food stamps to some poor families and legal immigrants. The budget also includes $3.6 billion in a welfare to work initiative, which unfortunately needs to be restructured in order to address the needs for job training created by the welfare legislation. While this funding would help ease the impact of some of the misguided provisions of the welfare reform legislation, it does not address many of the practical problems in moving people from welfare to work. In my view, this proposal is not adequate to reverse the harmful consequences of the welfare bill. The actions of Congress to balance the budget have had a disproportionate effect on the poor and the entire welfare reform legislation needs to be reconsidered.
The President's budget reduces Medicare spending by $100 billion over the next five years in order to extend the solvency of the trust fund through 2007. The Medicare plan does not increase the 25 percent of program costs currently paid by beneficiaries for the Part B premium. The reduced spending is obtained by a balanced constraint on payments to health plans and providers and new steps to combat fraud and abuse in the program. The plan would also give beneficiaries important new options and improve benefits by covering colorectal screening, diabetes management, annual mammograms without copayments, and reimbursement for immunizations.
The President's budget proposes a net reduction of $9 billion in spending for Medicaid. Thus, this approach differs in significant ways from prior Republican plans. In particular, the President is to be commended for his plan to expand health care coverage for children and for workers who are between jobs. However, I have serious concerns about reduction in spending from "per capita caps" and reduced payments to hospitals providing a disproportionate share of indigent care. This proposal will require extensive public debate.
The President's budget takes an important first step toward ensuring continuing U.S. global leadership in the 21st Century by calling for a modest increase in our international affairs spending. The budget proposes $19.5 billion for ongoing international affairs programs, an increase of seven percent over the 1997 level. At this level, international affairs spending would still constitute only slightly over one percent of the budget and 0.25 percent of Gross Domestic Product. While I am pleased that the Administration is making an effort to fund at adequate levels our global obligations and interests, and I strongly support the efforts to repay our debts to multilateral organizations, I am saddened that any increase we can find for international programs must, of necessity, be spent to pay back what we owe. Over the past several years, the Republican-controlled Congress has neglected to fund U.S. obligations and priorities in the international arena and the bill is now past due. I commend the Clinton Administration for proposing that we pay our obligations to the United Nations and the multilateral development banks, and urge that we also turn our attention to the many pressing needs on the global environmental, health, education and basic development fronts.