[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 6 (Monday, February 4, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S261-S262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. THOMAS. Madam President, one of the issues we are faced with, 
which will be most controversial, I suppose--and certainly very 
important--is that budget about which the Senator from Massachusetts 
has been talking. Obviously, there are different views as to how one 
deals with the budget. It is always that way.
  There are those who think there is a never-ending demand for more 
spending and, therefore, more taxes, and that the Federal Government 
ought to be involved in all of our activities in our lives. There are 
others who believe there are essential elements the Federal Government 
should address itself to; they change at different times, of course.
  So it seems to me, as we take a look at this year's budget and this 
year's spending and this year's taxes, we have to take a look at the 
situation we are in and seek to meet the goals of our time. And those 
goals change from time to time.
  America faces a unique moment in our history. Our Nation is at war, 
our homeland is threatened to be attacked, and our economy is in 
recession. If those are not factors that ought to be taken into account 
with respect to a budget, I don't know what would be.
  The President's budget has just come to Congress today, so we do not 
know a great deal about the details. We will be holding hearings 
starting tomorrow, and we will know more about it. But the outline of 
the budget, it seems to me, meets the requirements of victory in this 
war in which we are involved, as well as the tests of responsibility 
for those areas in which the Federal Government, indeed, has a 
responsibility.
  It holds the Government accountable for results that address the 
priorities of the American people: Winning the war on terrorism, 
strengthening the protection of our homeland, revitalizing the economy, 
and creating jobs.
  Defense spending is increased by 12 percent. His budget nearly 
doubles homeland security spending. So it provides for the kind of 
safety all of us certainly have put at the top of our priorities at 
this time. The growth for spending in programs outside of defense, 
then, are held to 2 percent. We have been having something around 6- 
and 7-percent growth when we have not had the terrorism threat. So 
growth in those areas is reduced.
  I think one of the interesting issues--and a little different than 
what we have just heard--is that the President's budget provides 
significant funding increases for health care, prescription drugs, 
education, the environment, agriculture, and retirement security, and 
returns to budget surpluses within 2 or 3 years if, indeed, we have the 
kind of economic return that we are talking about from the way we spend 
our dollars. The fact is we do not have the reserves that we did have; 
in relation to tax decreases it is a relatively small amount, about 14 
percent. The remainder of the loss in revenues has been for increased 
spending in the war on terrorism and the recession.
  So if you are talking about surpluses, the way you get to deal with 
surpluses is to increase this economic movement forward, to increase 
the growth in the economy. That is where the surpluses came from, 
certainly not by increasing taxes at a time when we are in a recession.

  So the priorities, of course, will be winning the war on terrorism--
some $38 billion, a 12-percent increase, to increase the capacity of 
our military, to improve the living conditions of our military, and so 
on--and strengthening our homeland security, which, of course, whether 
it be boundary patrol or whether it be airline security or whether it 
be bioterrorism or whether it be the emergency improvement of 
intelligence, are things that clearly must be done.
  But, of course, if we are really to deal with this business of 
budgets and this business of surpluses, we have to deal with the 
economy. That is what we are going to be dealing with later this 
afternoon, tomorrow, and the next day in terms of an economic 
stimulus--to provide more push to those signs of an increased economy 
that we have before us. Hopefully, we can do that. The best way to 
guarantee surpluses in the future is to strengthen the economy.
  Education: This proposal builds on the successful passage of the No 
Child Left Behind Act, which the President and the Senator from 
Massachusetts had a great deal to do with and gave leadership. In 
fiscal year 2002, it dramatically increases to historic levels the 
funding for special education with $8.5 billion, boosts funding for 
low-income students $5 billion, funds important reading initiatives so 
that every child can read by the third grade, and provides $10 million 
for a new initiative to recruit librarians. So the idea that we are 
ignoring education simply is not the fact.
  Health care: It provides a refundable tax credit to subsidize up to 
90 percent of the cost of health insurance for low- and middle-income 
Americans. It expands the number of community health centers by 1,200 
to serve an additional 6.1 million patients. It doubles NIH medical 
research spending. That is this budget we are talking about. For 
prescription drugs, it provides $190 billion to strengthen Medicare 
with Medicare prescriptions over a period of the next 10 years.
  The environment: It provides record funding for EPA's operating 
budget. It fully funds the land and water conservation fund. It 
eliminates the park maintenance balance by 2006 if we continue to do it 
that way.
  Energy, of course, is one of the real issues. It provides $9.1 
billion for incentives.
  At any rate, those are items in the budget. The point is that we 
really need to look at where we are and how we are going to best manage 
additional spending on our war on terrorism and providing for our 
safety and freedom and trying to get the economy moving so that we will 
have more and more revenue without increasing taxes. I cannot think of 
a worse time to increase taxes by eliminating tax reductions than at a 
time of recession.
  So these are the issues that each of us will have to deal with as 
time passes. I think we will be able to do this. Certainly, we have 
done it before. I think it is very important we have a budget agreed to 
by the Congress so we have some constraints in spending so we have a 
budget that says to the appropriators: Here is the amount that can be 
used for agriculture, and here is the amount that can be used for 
whatever. Otherwise, of course, there is no end to the amount of 
spending.
  There are a million things that we would like done, but we have to 
give some thought to what is the appropriate role of the Federal 
Government in terms of participation in these various programs? What is 
the State's role? What is the local government's role?

  We hear--when I am home, at least--that we have too much Federal 
Government in our lives, but, on the other hand, we ought to have more 
money for these things. You have to make decisions between items to 
decide if you like Government closer to the people, if you like the 
calls made by the bureaucracy from Washington. These are the kinds of 
things I believe ought to be decided. So budgets are quite more than 
the amount of money that is going to be spent, even though, of course, 
that is the discussion.
  Budgets are a matter of determining priorities, a matter of taking a 
look down the road as to where we want our country to be, what kind of 
programs we think are best for growth, for creating jobs, so people 
will be able to work in good jobs, and to be able to decide what the 
role of the Federal Government is vis-a-vis the other levels of 
government that are so important to us.

[[Page S262]]

  These are all part of the budget. Obviously, it is very difficult to 
put together a budget for a massive operation such as the Federal 
Government. But I do believe, as we move to what have to be 
expenditures for the emergency that is before us, we ought to see if we 
can have some logical control over the remainder of the spending so 
this deficit, which hopefully will be a short-term deficit, does not 
get any larger than it has to be. These are the decisions, these are 
the judgments we will have to make. Different people have different 
ideas, but, hopefully, we will come out that way.
  I think the President has done a super job of putting together a 
budget. I think he has recognized our country's needs. I think he has 
also recognized the reality that we just can't keep endlessly spending 
and continue to grow the size of Government. It seem to me, asking for 
more accountability throughout the Federal Government is one of the 
important aspects of our future.
  Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The absence of a quorum has been suggested.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that 
the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, I request permission to speak 
on a subject of enormous national importance.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. I thank the Chair.

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