Washington, DC - US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) issued the following statement after voting for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013:

"This budget resolution is certainly not perfect and not what Democrats would have done on our own, but it does align with the priorities of the Senate budget and rejects the worst ideas of the House Budget.

"As someone who voted against the Budget Control Act which created the devastating sequester cuts, I'm glad to see this deal makes smarter choices by replacing almost two-thirds of this year's non-defense automatic cuts while keeping defense spending at last year's level and preventing another devastating round of cuts to defense programs and jobs. Plus this gives government agencies and the companies that do business with them the certainty they need to hire workers and make investments that will help the economy.

"It is terribly disappointing that this budget denies essential benefits to the 1.3 million long-term unemployed Americans while further postponing closure of corporate tax loopholes and big oil subsidies. While that defies logic, I do appreciate that this deal protects our seniors and working families against House Republican plans to slash Medicare, Medicare and Social Security.

"I have further concerns that this agreement would reduce the annual cost of living increase to the retired pay of working-age military retirees and I'm committed to working with my colleagues to re-examine this before it takes effect. Nevertheless, this budget deal is better than no deal and while there is a lot more work to be done, this compromise gives a glimmer of hope to the American people who are tired of manufactured crises that threaten our economic recovery and middle-class."

###