[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 36 (Friday, March 15, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2188-S2189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  BALANCED BUDGET DOWNPAYMENT ACT, II

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I would like to speak for a moment about the 
bill which is before us, the omnibus appropriations bill, which started 
out $1.8 billion over the spending levels that we considered just a few 
months ago in the balanced budget we sent to the President on November 
17 and which he vetoed on December 6.
  The previous versions of the Commerce, State, Justice, VA-HUD, Labor-
HHS, and Education bills, all of which are part of the omnibus 
appropriations bill that we are considering now, were all within the 
limits of the budget at that time needed to get into balance by the 
year 2002. In other words, all three of those appropriations bills 
satisfied our requirement to meet each year for the next 7 years the 
objective of those years, the goal which, at the end of 7 years, would 
have us achieve a balanced budget.
  During the consideration of this omnibus appropriations bill, in 
addition to the $1.8 billion that had started out above that level, we 
have added $2.4 billion as part of an amendment that was primarily for 
the purpose of more educational spending. That was not paid for by 
legitimate offsets, in my view, but rather by one-time asset sales 
which were already included as offsets in our balanced budget passed on 
November 17. In other words, in effect, we are trying to count savings 
twice.
  I am on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The provisions of 
the offset were all developed by our committee as a means of achieving 
some savings for the next fiscal year or the year after that, depending 
upon when they took effect. They were asset sales, some of which would 
not realize benefits until 2 years hence.
  But three of those particular asset sales were used as the offsets 
for this $2.4 billion increase in expenditure. There are a couple 
things wrong with it.
  First, we have already used that money to achieve our balanced 
budget. So, in effect, it is a double counting.
  Second, it is a one-time sale of an asset that we will never have 
again to use. The sales are a good idea, by the way, but these are 
ongoing authorizations for activities, educational expenditures, that 
will occur each year. To pay for them the first year out of an asset 
sale and leave undecided how we are going to pay for them in the 
future, in particular when it is in the context of a plan to try to 
balance the budget over 7 years, is not fiscally responsible.
  Ongoing expenses, expenses that we know will occur each year, should 
be paid for out of an ongoing revenue source that we identify can meet 
those expenses each of those years.
  If you have a one-time expense, then it makes sense to pay for it 
with a one-time sale. So, using asset sales to finance these ongoing 
job training and education programs, I think, is not good fiscal 
policy.
  So, on one hand, we do not have legitimate offsets. On the other 
hand, we are adding another $2.4 billion on top of the $1.8 billion. In 
addition to that, we are considering right now an amendment that would 
add another $400 million-plus for a variety of programs, including the 
so-called volunteer AmeriCorps project.
  AmeriCorps is a program that the GAO says is costing the taxpayer 
$26,654 per volunteer. Let me repeat that, Mr. President. President 
Clinton has sold this program to the American people on the basis we 
should have more volunteers to do worthy projects in our society. I 
wholeheartedly agree with that. We have a lot of volunteers, from grade 
school kids, high school kids, to people working in the community, 
working for charities, working for governmental programs, all kinds of 
volunteer programs.
  They do this free of charge. But it costs the U.S. taxpayer $26,654 
per AmeriCorps volunteer, according to the General Accounting Office. 
We are going to be increasing that program by, I have forgotten the 
amount of money, but it is over $100 million. The total cost of the 
amendment that is before us currently is over $400 million. We have 
other pending amendments that would also increase the cost of the bill. 
In addition to that, in addition to all of these things, the bill 
includes another $4.8 billion in so-called contingency appropriations, 
which represents more spending on several of the administration's pet 
projects.
  It is true that this additional spending is conditioned on the 
President and

[[Page S2189]]

Congress reaching a broader budget agreement, but the fact of the 
matter is, such an agreement would not represent the tight, fiscally 
responsible budget requirements that we passed on November 17, but 
rather is beginning to rely, in my opinion, on the same kind of smoke 
and mirrors characterized by previous budget agreements.
  How many times have we voted--either the House or the Senate--on 
agreements in the past that were going to result in a balanced budget? 
I can remember my colleagues, in 1990, coming to me in support of the 
Bush administration agreement that was reached at Andrews Air Force 
Base, saying, ``You have to do this for President Bush.'' And I said, 
``I don't think this is going to result in a balanced budget. I don't 
like the tax-increase aspect of it.'' ``Oh, yes, it guarantees we're 
going to have a balanced budget.''
  I remember the President's Chief of Staff and his budget officers all 
visiting with me about that subject--guaranteed to happen. Of course, 
it did not happen. It did not happen on any of the previous occasions, 
and it has not happened on the one subsequent occasion either.
  The fact of the matter is, we get to a political point in these 
negotiations where we leave the fiscally responsible way of doing it, 
which is what we crafted and what we passed on November 17 and what the 
President vetoed on December 6. It becomes so hard to make that stick 
that we finally begin to compromise, and we reach an agreement which, 
in our heart of hearts, we realize will never really result in a 
balanced budget. It will make sense for a year or two, but it never 
gets us to the end. In 7 years who cares? That is somebody else's 
problem.
  Under the Clinton proposal, which we are largely meeting here, if we 
spend this $4.8 billion-plus, the other billions, it adds up to almost 
$8 billion more. What we are getting is a commitment to make most of 
the discretionary savings in the last 2 years. And 95 percent of the 
discretionary savings in the President's proposal would have to be 
achieved in the last 2 years.
  Mr. President, you and I both know that is an impossibility. We are 
having a hard enough time doing about one-tenth of it in the first 
year. That is about how much we would be trying to do here in the last 
years. It is not even one-seventh over 7 years. Even the Republican 
proposal puts more of it in the last 2 years than I think most of us 
would like.
  The years 2001 and 2002, the sixth and seventh years, are after Bill 
Clinton will have left the Presidency, even if he is reelected to a 
second term. It is beyond the time when many of us would still be 
serving in the Congress. ``A problem deferred is a problem solved'' is 
the slogan of many. It is not the way to ensure a balanced budget.
  Frankly, I am about to come to the conclusion that if we adopt this 
omnibus appropriations bill, we will be pretending to have achieved a 
balanced budget in 7 years. The President will pat himself on the back, 
we will pat ourselves on the back, and in 7 years we will look back on 
this and say, ``Well, we didn't quite get it done then, did we?'' It 
did not work out that way.
  I am simply trying to make the point right now that is the way it 
will turn out. It may not be the popular thing to say, Mr. President, 
but I think that is the way it is going to turn out. So I am at this 
point not inclined to vote for this legislation.
  The problem is that in making the compromise this first year, having 
the lack of courage to do what is right even in this first year, we 
will never have the courage to do what is right in those last couple of 
years when it will be much more difficult, the choices will be much 
harder to make, because there will be a lot more special interests who 
will be heard at that time or claim that they are being heard.
  I believe this bill moves in the wrong direction. I think virtually 
all the amendments that added money move in the wrong direction. My own 
view is we should vote down these amendments that add more money to the 
program. The House of Representatives barely passed a bill which is 
much more narrow. In conference I do not think we can expect the House 
to accept any of the add-ons that we have done.
  Yet, the President says he will veto a bill that does not include 
these add-ons or at least many of them. So it seems to me that we are 
still at the impasse that we were at shortly after Christmastime, Mr. 
President, and that is simply a philosophical difference between the 
President who wants to spend about $8 billion more than the Congress 
wants to spend.
  We moved a long way in his direction during these budget 
negotiations. But I am not sure we can ever both satisfy him and also 
meet the requirement of a balanced budget. It may technically meet the 
balanced budget, but in reality, politically, we know we will never get 
there. I do not think that is being honest with the American people. 
So, as it stands right now, I am disinclined to vote for this 
appropriations package, especially if more of these amendments are 
adopted.
  I guess my own prediction is that either we will have a responsible 
bill, which the President will inevitably veto, or further down the 
road we will not have a responsible bill in terms of achieving a 
balanced budget in the year 2002.
  Mr. President, at this point, I ask unanimous consent to speak for no 
more than 10 minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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