Republicans claim that these cuts will pay for Hurricane Katrina relief, but, in fact, these dollars will be used to pay for more tax cuts that we cannot afford. The Republican plan actually increases the deficit by more than $100 billion, even as it cuts services vitally important to the families I represent in Las Vegas.

One in every five Nevadans currently lacks health insurance, yet the Republican budget slashes $10 billion from Medicaid. Cutting these funds will impact more than 200,000 children, seniors and disabled in Nevada who rely solely on Medicaid for their health care. This budget also allows Nevada and other states, for the first time, to charge some Medicaid-eligible children premiums and co-payments -- further reducing their access to health care and driving up the cost to their families.

Shockingly, the Republican budget cuts federal funding for child support enforcement, which will result in a reduction of $180 million in child support collections over the next 10 years, slashing child support payments to single parents who are struggling to provide for their children.

Education in southern Nevada will also be affected, should these GOP cuts pass. Republicans claim that their policies leave no child behind, but then they want to slash more than $6.8 million in funding to help disadvantaged students with reading and math, to improve our classrooms, and to fund special education needs in Nevada. If they're successful, another $2.4 million will be taken from Nevada Head Start programs, denying even more of our children a chance at early education.

At a time when college tuition continues to skyrocket, the Republican budget slashes student loans by more than $14 billion - increasing the costs for more than 18,250 student borrowers in Nevada. This includes raising student loan interest rate caps and raising interest rates and fees on student borrowers who consolidate their loans.

Republican Senators are also pushing a package of budget cuts which would target funding for Las Vegas projects I worked to include in the federal highway bill passed earlier this year.

These Senators want to score political points by cutting millions of dollars to expand I-15, U.S. 95 and the Las Vegas Beltway. This irresponsible Republican plan will punish Valley drivers and those who rely on public transportation. The loss of these funds also creates a real safety issue. Insufficient roads and overcrowded freeways not only cause headaches for drivers, they endanger lives, and this ludicrous plan will only create more gridlock and more traffic accidents.

Nevada drivers and Nevada businesses should not have to pay the price for the fiscal failures of the Republican Congress and the Bush White House. These are the same people who give billions in sweetheart tax breaks to oil companies and nuclear power, then turn around and want families in Las Vegas to live with traffic jams and clogged freeways so they can continue scratching the backs of the special interests.

In addition to funding important local transportation needs, the highway bill also stimulates the economy and creates new jobs. Analysts have calculated that for every $1 billion in federal highway spending, 47,500 jobs will be created in Nevada and across the nation.

As Congress debates whether or not to enact these troubling cuts, I will be working to protect Nevada families and the important federal funding needed for education, transportation and social services in the Silver State.