[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 124 (Friday, September 21, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9609-S9610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I thank the managers of this bill for 
their hard work in putting forth this legislation which provides 
Federal funding for numerous vital programs in the Treasury Department 
and the General Government. However, once again, I find myself in the 
unpleasant position of speaking before my colleagues about parochial 
projects in another appropriations bill.
  This bill spends at a level 5.9 percent higher than the level enacted 
in fiscal year 2001, which is greater than the 4 percent increase in 
discretionary spending than the President wanted to adhere to.
  In real dollars, this is $328 million in additional spending above 
the amount requested by the President, and a $1.8 billion increase in 
spending from last year. So far this year, with just seven 
appropriations bills already passed including this bill, spending 
levels have already exceeded the President's budget request by more 
than $7.6 billion. I must remind my colleagues that the Administration 
has urged us to maintain our fiscal discipline to ensure that we will 
continue to have adequate funds to prosecute our war against terrorism, 
to aid those in need, and to cover other related costs.
  In this bill, I have identified just over $200 million in earmarks, 
which is less than the cost of the earmarks, totaling $356 million, in 
the bill passed last year. Therefore, I applaud the efforts of the 
appropriators in keeping parochial spending to a minimum in this bill 
but more must be done.
  While the amounts associated with each individual earmark may not 
seem extravagant, taken together, they represent a serious diversion of 
taxpayers' hard-earned dollars at the expense of numerous programs that 
have undergone the appropriate merit-based selection process. It is my 
view that the people who run these programs should be the ones who 
decide how best to spend the appropriated funds. After all, they know 
what their most pressing needs are.
  For example, under funding for the Department of Treasury, some 
examples of earmarks include: $1,000,000 for work on joint technology 
projects with New Mexico State University's Physical Sciences 
Laboratory; and $750,000 for the Center for Agriculture Policy and 
Trade Studies located at North Dakota State University.
  Under funding for the General Government, some of the earmarks 
include: $2,500,000 for the Native American Digital Telehealth Project 
and the Upper Great Plains Native American Telehealth Program at the 
University of North Dakota; and $5,000,000 to help

[[Page S9610]]

purchase land and facilitate the moving of the Odd Fellows Hall to 
provide for construction of a new courthouse in Salt Lake City, UT.
  There are more projects on the list that I have compiled, which will 
be available on my Senate Web site.
  In closing, I urge my colleagues to curb our habit of directing hard-
earned taxpayer dollars to locality-specific special interests.

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