[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 51 (Friday, April 25, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3699-S3701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN PREVENTION ACT

  Mr. ASHCROFT. I rise to make brief remarks about an important topic. 
The topic is the way in which we control our deployment of the 
resources of the American people. That is just another way of saying it 
is about spending.
  Over and over again, we come to the end of the fiscal year for the 
Federal Government and we are threatened with the absence of a spending 
plan. In the absence of a spending plan, we experience what are called 
Government shutdowns. It is at a time like that, when we have the 
potential for shutdown because we do not have any spending plan, that 
people begin to load up the budget with things they want. They know 
that the threat of a shutdown makes it more likely that things which 
could not pass muster on their own, which would not really be justified 
in the cold, hard light of reason and in the inspection and 
examination of normal debate, would be included.

  This is one of the reasons the deficit has become so high; under the 
pressure of the deadline and potential of a Government shutdown people 
are able to get spending plans enacted which simply divert resources, 
waste resources,

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and spend more resources than we have. It exacerbates the deficit; it 
hurts the potential of this country; it shows the absence of discipline 
which is indicative of the irresponsibility of the Congress.
  We should not allow that to happen. We should not put ourselves in a 
situation where we come to the end of the fiscal year and the President 
can say, if you do not put $10 billion or $11 billion or $14 billion 
more in the budget, I will veto the spending plan altogether, and we 
will end up with a shutdown and the American people will be held 
hostage until you agree to the plan for more spending.
  When people are held hostage the debate does not focus on the merits 
of spending issues, it focuses on the pain of the people who are held 
hostage without Government services. We desperately need to develop a 
way in which to handle our budget and appropriations process that does 
not allow the people to be held hostage by the President at the end of 
the year. The President should not be able to say, I will veto anything 
you send unless it has great expansions of programs to which you would 
not otherwise agree.
  It is with that in mind that I rise today to support what will be 
debated in this Senate, and I hope will be enacted shortly, and that is 
a continuing resolution. A continuing resolution is the way for us to 
have a spending plan which will be in place if we do not reach one in 
the ordinary budget and appropriations process. And it is a way of 
saying we will continue spending at some ratio of the previous levels, 
even in the absence of a budget for next year until we come to an 
agreement.
  The real virtue of this is simply that it will allow us to debate 
issues about spending in the next budget even at the close of a budget 
year without the potential of the American people being held hostage to 
a shutdown.
  I think that is a wise thing to do. That way we will look at each 
issue on its merits instead of looking at the pain that might be 
inflicted upon the country if the President vetoes a budget, shutting 
down the country and saying unless you do what I say, I am going to 
keep it shut down and see to it that these people have more injury and 
more pain.
  We have been through that. We had the longest shutdown in history 
because of disagreements between the Congress and the President.
  Now, there is a proclivity to say, well, it was the Congress' fault. 
Well, the Congress did pass a budget, but the President vetoed that 
budget. We do not want to be in that position again. So we need to put 
in place a continuing resolution, to do it now in the dispassionate 
cool of spring and not at the time at the end of the year when the 
President can say, well, if you do not do it my way, it is my way or 
the highway. You just send everything home. The people would be held 
hostage, and we would not really debate the issue on its merits.
  It is with that in mind I support the effort that is being made by 
the Senator from Texas [Mrs. Hutchison] to provide a basis for a 
continuing resolution. I think it is the kind of responsible Government 
that helps us represent the people well and keeps us from 
inappropriately, improperly spending the resources of taxpayers based 
upon demands that are made at a time when urgency causes people to make 
decisions that merit would not justify.
  I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas is recognized.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent I be allowed 
to speak for 15 minutes in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Thank, you Mr. President.
  Mr. President, I want to talk today about something that I think will 
be coming up next week, and that is the supplemental appropriations 
bill. This will be the first appropriations bill that has come to the 
floor this year. So I think it is wise for us to set the policy for how 
we are going to handle appropriations for the full year.
  All of us remember 1995 and the time that Government shut down, 
putting Government employees in a situation of not being quite sure if 
they would get paid, not being able to work even if they wanted to. We 
had people who had planned for family vacations who were not able to 
get into the Washington Monument or the Smithsonian or many of our 
national parks. As we begin to set the policy for how Congress is going 
to handle appropriations this year, I think it is most important we set 
the ground rules to have a functioning Government at a reasonable level 
so there will not be any fears of a Government shutdown; So that 
agencies can plan in case some of the appropriations bills are not 
passed by September 30.
  Now, many people know that we have 13 different appropriations bills. 
Each appropriations bill goes forward for its particular agency or 
group of agencies. Many times we face the end of the fiscal year when 
six appropriations bills are passed and signed by the President and 
maybe seven are not yet finished because there are still negotiations 
between the President and Congress. There is no question that there are 
different priorities between the President and Congress in many areas. 
The defense bill, for instance, is one that usually is the last to pass 
because there will be a difference on how we prioritize our defense 
expenditures. It could also happen in the case of other agencies and 
other appropriations bills.
  I think that it is just time that we set the policy. Senator John 
McCain and I have introduced a bill called the Government Shutdown 
Prevention Act. We are going to offer this bill to the upcoming 
supplemental appropriations bill because we think this is the 
appropriate time and the appropriate place to say this is how we will 
handle it this year.
  This is good government. It is responsible government. We have some 
very important supplemental appropriations. We are going to, hopefully, 
be helping the flood victims of North Dakota and other disaster victims 
that have met with tragedies during the first part of this year. We are 
going to be making sure that our troops in Bosnia have the funding that 
they need, without taking so much from our defense budget that our 
other young men and women are not able to be trained.
  So these are important supplemental appropriations. I think it is 
most important that we also take care of the business of governing, and 
that we say, right now, there is not going to be a Government shutdown. 
There is not going to be a disruption in services. We will fund 
Government at 98 percent of the 1997 spending levels. That 2 percent 
leaves Congress the ability to do what it is going to do in the 
negotiations that might occur after September 30 and not spend money 
that has not actually been appropriated. I think that is most important 
if we are going to have all the options that Congress should have 
regardless of whether it has reached an agreement with the President.
  Now, all of us hope that we will have an agreement. But we believe it 
is not in anyone's interest to be up against a September 30 deadline 
when all of a sudden you have the hammer over people and lives being 
disrupted all over America. So you do things that are not based on the 
merits of the argument between spending in one area or spending in 
another. You do things because you have this artificial hammer hanging 
over your head, saying people's lives are going to be disrupted. They 
are not going to be able to get passports, they will not be able to 
take their vacations. They will not be able to assure that veterans 
benefits will be paid. Federal employees will not know for sure that 
they will get paid, although in my wildest imagination I cannot imagine 
any Congress not paying our Government employees. That is what we are 
trying to do with the Government Shutdown Prevention Act.
  I think it is important we start talking about it now because this 
will be part of the debate next week. I would like to see this 
amendment put on in a bipartisan way, unanimously. I would like to see 
that everyone agrees that this is a reasonable approach.
  We have talked to many people about it in Congress, on both sides of 
the rotunda, trying to come up with the right percentage. Many people 
wanted to go lower than 98 percent of previous year's funding. Many 
people were concerned about not having enough of an incentive to 
continue to negotiate. But I felt that 75 percent was not reasonable. I 
think we want to make sure that the

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Government that is going to keep running can run on a reasonable basis. 
If anyone doesn't think 98 percent is reasonable, welcome to the real 
world. Is there a family in America that hasn't had to make do with 2 
percent less to spend? Is there a small business in America that hasn't 
made a 2-percent cut in their budget?
  So if a Government employee tells me that the agency can't run at the 
98-percent level, I would say that they are not qualified to manage 
their agency. We can save money to make sure that we are planning for 
the future. And that is another reason why I think we ought to pass 
this legislation right now. I think we should let our Government 
agencies know that if there is a disagreement in October, plan now to 
know that you are going to be able to operate at a 98-percent level. 
So, you can plan ahead, and if you need to make provisions, you can do 
it now. I think that is another good reason for us to do it early, 
rather than waiting until some other appropriations bill comes up to 
the floor, which might be in June or July. That is not as much planning 
time. So we are talking about good government. We are talking about 
responsible governing and trying to handle the issues for which we are 
responsible as a U.S. Congress in a responsible way.
  Now, I think this is something that the Democrats would probably 
welcome because they have said, on the occasions where the potential 
for a Government shutdown has come, that they think this is not a 
responsible way to run a railroad. They have said that in many heated 
debates. I hope that they will come along and work with us--and I think 
they will, frankly. I think there are some Democrats who want to 
support this. Nobody has focused on it a whole lot because we have had 
the chemical weapons treaty for this week. But as people start to focus 
on it next week, I hope they will look at this and support it.
  So what we are talking about is a safety net, a funding mechanism for 
fiscal year 1998 that would trigger on October 1, 1997, if any of the 
13 appropriations bills have not been agreed to by the President and 
Congress. This is good government. This is responsible government, and 
I hope that we can do it in a bipartisan way.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  Mr. McCONNELL addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I want to take the floor this morning 
to make a few comments in favor of the Government Shutdown Prevention 
Act, which we hope will be a part of the supplemental appropriations 
next year, which will be offered next week by Senator McCain and 
Senator Hutchison and which, it seems to me, embodies the elements of 
good government.
  We had a pretty contentious discussion in the last Congress about how 
best to get a balanced budget. It led to a conclusion that no one was 
happy with. It involved several temporary shutdowns of the Federal 
Government. We think it is important that that be avoided for the 
future. Everybody now understands that was not a good result, and the 
amendment which will be offered by Senator McCain and Senator Hutchison 
would prevent that.
  It would simply provide 98 percent of the fiscal 1997 appropriations 
bill level and will be subject to all of the terms and conditions of 
the prior year's bill, with a specific prohibition on initiating any 
new projects or activities. To put it another way, if we are unable to 
reach an agreement, it provides for a reasonable funding level to avoid 
the Government shutdown.
  It seems to me this is something we ought to pass on a bipartisan 
basis unanimously. Obviously, the American people are not interested in 
seeing the Government shut down again. They are also interested in 
seeing us reach bipartisan agreement to balance the budget, which we 
all hope will happen. But the McCain-Hutchison bill will eliminate the 
threat of a Government shutdown and leverage the President to garner 
additional funding for his priorities. It is a good-government 
proposal. It makes it clear that those on my side who thought the 
Government shutdown might be good leverage in the past decided that it 
isn't and that it should not be pursued.
  It keeps the pressure an all of us to go forward to enact the 
appropriations bills, because that is what we would ultimately hope 
would happen in the course of this year as well. I think, Mr. 
President, this is clearly something that ought to be coupled with the 
supplemental appropriations which, presumably, we will be dealing with 
next week.
  So I would like to add my strong support to the efforts of Senator 
McCain and Senator Hutchison and commend them for their work on this 
important issue and suggest that the Senate, hopefully, will pass this 
unanimously at the appropriate time.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, I would like to speak on several matters that are at 
least somewhat related.

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