Published August 1985 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd The Federal Budget: Good News for West Virginia West Virginians have much to be pleased about in the budget that recently passed Congress. The most significant achievement of this budget, in my opinion, is that it reduces the deficit by approximately $57 million next year without sacrificing certain programs that are vital to America's future and vital to the people of states such as West Virginia. Social Security benefits were saved, as were pensions for veterans and retired federal workers. Programs of special significance to West Virginia, including the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Economic Development Administration, and the Urban Development Action Grant program, were protected from earlier efforts by the Administration to eliminate them. (In fact, I was able to overcome strong Senate opposition to the ARC and add $50 million to a related Senate bill for the ARC highway program.) Needed funding for education and for scientific and medical research also was preserved in the budget, as was funding for Amtrak's passenger rail service. The budget that Congress passed is not a perfect budget. But it is a major improvement over what the Administration initially proposed, and it is an important first step in our efforts to place the budget deficit on a downward spiral. I was especially pleased that Congress, after many months of grappling with the budget, came around to the kind of deficit reduction formula that I could support. Several months ago, I introduced a budget proposal in the Senate, which was defeated on mostly party lines, that would have achieved even greater deficit reduction than the budget just passed, and it would have done so without endangering essential programs. Instead of accepting my plan, the Senate Republican leadership pushed through a Senate budget that cut Social Security benefits, education and health research, and other programs important to West Virginia and Appalachia. The House of Representatives approved a budget that contained a far lower level of deficit reduction. The compromise measure adopted by Congress, which was similar in many respects to the budget I proposed, is a blend of the tough deficit reduction stand of the Senate and the fair-mindedness of the House budget. This budget is proof that the deficit can be reduced without hurting programs that are essential investments in the future of America and in the future of her people, including West Virginians. August 7, 1985