[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 12, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6136-S6137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997--CONFERENCE 
                                 REPORT

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, thank you. I want to thank my leader on 
the Budget Committee, Senator Exon, who will be sorely missed when he 
retires. This is a man who has stood for a real balance in our 
Government, a balanced budget, and a balance in our priorities. I hope 
as America listens to him, and some of us who do not believe this 
budget is the right budget, I hope Americans will understand the fight 
over balancing the budget.
  Mr. EXON. Will the Senator yield?
  Mrs. BOXER. I am happy to yield to the Senator.
  Mr. EXON. I appreciate your kind remarks, and I yield 5 hours to the 
Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, thank you so much.
  As I was saying about the Senator from Nebraska, he has stood for 
real balance in the budget, both in terms of dollars in and dollars 
out, so that we do not add to a debt, but also a balance of needs. What 
is very interesting to me, in particular, Senator Exon, as the former 
chairman of the Budget Committee, and now as its ranking member, has 
always been one who has stood for the strongest possible defense that 
America must have. When I hear him stand up and talk about some of the 
excesses in that area, it means a lot to me.

  What is interesting to me, when we had an opportunity to vote on 
budgets, we had three budgets. We had the Republican budget before the 
Senate today, coming back from the conference; we had the Democratic 
budget, which, basically, was President Clinton's budget; and we had 
the bipartisan

[[Page S6137]]

budget, which was put together by Republicans and Democrats in this 
U.S. Senate.
  I had the privilege of voting for two budgets, the Democrat budget 
and the bipartisan budget. I did not vote for the Republican budget. 
Although many people's eyes glaze over when you talk about the budget, 
it is really a very simple document when you think about it. It is a 
statement of our priorities, and a statement, really, of what we think 
we ought to be doing as a nation, just as we and our families will 
determine every year what our priorities are, where we will spend our 
dollars. We do that here.
  One would think that the cold war had not ended if you look at this 
budget. That is what is so terribly confusing to me, because we know we 
have to be lean in this budget. We know we are not doing as much for 
education as we would like. We are not doing as much to clean up the 
environment as we would like, at least most of us. We are certainly not 
doing enough health research as we would like.
  Every dollar that we can find to make these investments is a dollar, 
I think, that is well spent when we make them. Yet, we have this 
Republican Senate and House throwing $12 billion more at the Pentagon 
than they asked for in budget authority. That, to me, is nonsensical.
  We need the strongest military in the world, and we have it, and we 
will always have it. We do not need to throw dollars that the generals 
and the admirals do not want. What is the point of it? It is wasting 
money, money that we need elsewhere, money that could even reduce the 
deficit further.
  To me, it is not a close call as far as how I will vote. The 
Republican budget left the Senate, and I think the priorities were out 
of whack. Too many cuts in Medicare, too many cuts in Medicaid, too 
many cuts in education, too many cuts in the environment, and too much 
spending on the Pentagon--more than they asked for. It is something I 
hope that the American people will look at, because it is not pie-in-
the-sky and it is not rhetoric. It is not politics. It is budgeting. It 
is hard dollars that will go to pay for what the American people need 
to have.
  Mr. President, we do have an election coming up in November. Frankly, 
I think a lot of these issues will be issues in that election. I can 
think of no greater honor than to serve on the Budget Committee. When I 
was in the House, I spent 6 years there, and here in the U.S. Senate I 
am finishing the fourth. To me, it is one of the most important things 
that I do, because the hopes and dreams of American people, their 
aspirations, are really contained in that budget.
  All you have to do is look at education, and see how the Republicans 
are slashing it, to understand that will translate into fewer 
scholarships for our young people to go to college, fewer slots that 
can be filled in Head Start so our kids can get off to a good start on 
a level playing field, fewer ways to clean up Superfund sites. Frankly, 
in California, we have many that are languishing and are dangerous, 
with toxins seeping into water supplies, because we do not have enough 
resources there.

  This is the greatest Nation in the world. We can do better.
  The Democratic budget, the Clinton budget, the bipartisan budget, I 
think all of those are quite mainstream in their approach, compared to 
this budget that is before the Senate today. We do not have to hurt our 
seniors the way they will be hurt with this. We do not have to hurt our 
children the way they will be hurt with this.
  Now we have a whole new idea. We will go back to star wars. We will 
build a full star wars. I think we ought to prepare, in case we have 
to. We should do all the research. I have always taken that position. 
But to get ready to deploy a star wars system--we will be facing that 
in the defense bill--it will cost us billions of dollars, billions of 
dollars, when we do not even know exactly what we need to do, and we 
are being told the threat is not defined yet. It just does not make 
sense.
  I submit, Mr. President, if you went to a supermarket or shopping 
center in Tennessee, or I went to one in California, or my friend went 
to one in Nebraska, and you said to the person who was coming in to do 
his shopping: Out of these few things, which do you feel most 
threatened by, crime in the street and that you might get mugged or 
attacked, or somebody in your family getting breast cancer or prostate 
cancer, or a ballistic missile coming over and hitting you in your 
house? I honestly think that people would say we should have the 
strongest military in the world, but the threats that are facing me are 
absolutely that someone in my family would get such a dreadful disease 
or that, yes, someone could be a victim of a crime. Yet, you look at 
this budget and it has the opposite kind of priorities.

  So I thank my friend from Nebraska for his leadership, his very down-
to-earth Nebraska leadership. I will sorely miss it next year. I think 
he stands for mainstream America in his opposition to this budget.
  I urge my colleagues to vote against this budget. It got worse when 
it went into conference. It has more of the Newt Gingrich approach to 
budgeting, and I frankly think we ought to vote ``no.''
  I yield the floor at this time.
  Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I want to briefly thank my dear friend and 
colleague from California. I said earlier that she is a valuable member 
of the Budget Committee, and her earlier training over on the House 
side has served her and us well. She is very consistent and tender, one 
who becomes involved in the details of the budget process. It has been 
a great pleasure for me to see this relatively new Senator come in and 
take her place as a very influential member of the Budget Committee. I 
thank her for her kind remarks.

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