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Press Release: Gov. Richardson delivers Democratic Radio Address

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The Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. – States, not the Republican-controlled Congress, are leading the way in resolving problems confronting Americans, Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson said Saturday.

Richardson, in his party’s weekly radio address, said, “Most people don’t see the Republican-led federal government doing anything to give you, your business or your family a helping hand.”

He said it took Congress four months to approve legislation to increase the death benefit for soldiers killed in combat. That was a provision in an $82 billion bill signed into law by President Bush on Wednesday.

While Congress was considering the proposal to improve military benefits, Richardson said, three dozen states “have pursued actions to provide greater assistance for our military men and women serving in the National Guard.”

In February, for instance, Richardson signed a measure that made New Mexico the first state in the nation to pay for $250,000 in life insurance for its National Guard members.

Richardson, who is mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2008, touted policy initiatives by Democratic governors and said Republicans in Washington “continually put partisanship first and everything else second.”

“In the last four months,” he said, “Democratic governors have cut taxes, expanded access to health care, invested heavily in job creation, improved schools, made college more affordable, reduced crime, and – while Republicans in Washington turned trillion-dollar surpluses into trillion-dollar deficits – Democratic governors have actually balanced our budgets.”

A former U.S. energy secretary and U.N. ambassador under President Clinton, Richardson contends that Democratic governors should assume a greater role in shaping party strategies and policies if their party hopes to pick up seats in Congress and possibly retake the White House.

Richardson is chairman of the Democratic Governors’ Association.

Associated Press

May 14, 2005

Copyright & Paid for by The Democratic Governors Association

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