[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 20, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S2441]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  BALANCED BUDGET DOWNPAYMENT ACT, II

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, yesterday the Senate voted to 
adopt H.R. 3019, a bill to make continuing appropriations for the 
remainder of fiscal year 1996. During consideration of this 
legislation, the Senate debated and then voted upon two amendments 
which I would like to discuss at this time. The first was an amendment 
by Senators Bond and Mikulski and the second was an amendment by 
Senator Gramm.
  The Bond-Mikulski amendment included provisions to boost funding for 
environment and housing programs. These increases include funding 
directed to the States to clean up our Nation's water and funding to 
streamline the programs at the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development. I believe the EPA funding level approved in last year's 
appropriations bill represented a reasonable, responsible allocation 
for environmental programs and oversight. At the same time, I 
understand how important the Superfund program and the EPA's State 
revolving loan fund for waste and drinking water infrastructure are to 
the State of Michigan and States across the country. Therefore, largely 
because the additional funding was fully offset, I supported this 
measure.
  On the other hand, my support of this en bloc amendment should not be 
interpreted as support for several of the programs listed, including 
additional funding for the National Corporation of National Community 
Service. Paying Americans tens of thousands of dollars per year to 
volunteer for community service may be President Clinton's idea of a 
good program, but it's not mine, and I would prefer to see this funding 
eliminated.
  The Gramm amendment would have struck that spending which remained in 
title IV of the bill following the adoption of the Bond/Mikulski and 
Specter amendments. This funding included $235 million for the Advanced 
Technology Program and several hundred million in international 
accounts. The President has indicated that without additional funding 
for programs like the ATP--which provides direct subsidies to some of 
America's wealthiest corporations--he would veto the overall bill and 
shut down the Federal Government once again. I think it is 
unconscionable that the President is willing to threaten all the 
programs of the Federal Government in order to provide McDonalds, AT&T, 
and Eastman Kodak with millions in direct subsidies, and for that 
reason I supported Senator Gramm. Earlier amendments by Senators 
Specter and Bond had gone a long way toward meeting the demands of the 
President with regard to education, the environment, and housing. While 
some programs remaining in title IV are worthy of support, an 
overwhelming amount of the funding would have gone to corporate 
subsidies and other unnecessary spending.

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