[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 139 (Tuesday, October 1, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S12121]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Mr. President, yesterday, I was 1 of only 15 Senators 
to vote against the omnibus spending bill.
  Mr. President, I deplore the process by which this bill was created.
  Mr. President, when the Republicans took over the Congress--the 
Democrats were spending about $503 billion on domestic programs. Last 
year, after holding firm on principle we cut that to $488 billion. Now 
that number is back up to $503 billion.
  Because we already have a $5 trillion debt, the billions in new 
spending represent a new 30-year obligation for our citizens. This is 
an obligation that we cannot afford.
  Next year, we will have to cut $10 billion to get back on track and 
keep our commitments under the 1997 budget resolution. The budget 
resolution was the blueprint by which we would achieve a balanced 
budget in 7 years by the year 2002. We have already changed the plan 
and this is just year one.
  There were supposed to be offsets to this new spending. But they were 
phony offsets.
  The so-called refinancing of the savings insurance fund for the S&L 
problems is really coming from the banking industry. That money is to 
be used in a separate fund in case of future S&L failures. But the 
Congress has decided that we should use it to offset more spending.
  We cut the defense budget further. Yet, the defense budget, in real 
dollars, has been cut in half since 1984.
  While the President says on the campaign trail that he is not a 
liberal his aides were back here in Washington forcing us to spend more 
money on more liberal programs, cutting defense, and using accounting 
gimmicks to justify all of this.
  This kind of game has gone on for too long, and it has to stop.
  If we care so much for the children, why don't we leave them a 
country that is less in debt, not more in debt.
  The wasteful spending that is littered throughout this bill is truly 
astounding. More foreign aid spending. Over $200 million for the United 
Nations, a bloated, wasteful bureaucracy. Over $200 million for the 
Advance Technology Program in the Commerce Department--this program has 
principally been known as the prince of corporate pork--serving Fortune 
500 companies.
  This is $40 million more for D.C. schools, even though they spend 
$9,000 per student, more than any other city in the United States.
  And, $196 million for Howard University in the District of Columbia, 
$4 billion more for the Department of Education, $82 million for the 
National Endowment of the Arts, $1.6 million for the Kennedy Center, 
money for a new defense program called Security at International 
Sporting Events, $9 million for 100 percent guaranteed international 
housing loans, $1.9 million for supervision of the Teamsters election, 
$27 million for debt restructuring with Latin America countries, $19 
million for the International Fund for Ireland, $5 million for the 
victims of Chernobyl, and the creation of a new Middle East Development 
Bank in which we authorize over $1 billion to be spent.
  Mr. President, can we really afford this kind of spending. If we 
can't stop it where is it going to stop. This is the reason why I voted 
against this bill.
  Now, Mr. President, I am grateful for the funding for Hurricane Fran 
in my State. This money will be helpful to that State, but my concern 
was that in order to vote for that funding--so much waste was attached 
to the bill--that on balance North Carolinians would be worse off for 
it.
  Mr. President, finally, I am disappointed with the results of the 
illegal immigration bill.
  Once again, the President campaigns like a moderate, but those are 
not the policies he advocates in Washington.
  How can we stop illegal immigration if we continue to provide 
benefits to those that come here illegally.
  The President has essentially forced ever school district in this 
country to educate, at taxpayers expense, children of parents who are 
in this country illegally. What kind of respect for the law does this 
demonstrate.
  Mr. President, this Congress has made great progress on many issues. 
We fell just one vote short of getting a constitutional amendment to 
balance the budget. We made great strides in cutting spending. But in 
the wee hours of the morning this weekend, we had to give the President 
what he wanted or else he, not us, would have shut the Government down.
  This is a shame, but next year the process will start again, and we 
have to be dedicated to reducing this debt on the American people by 
reducing the kinds of waste that we approved yesterday.
  Thank you Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________