[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 26, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4429-S4430]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PASSAGE OF THE BUDGET RESOLUTION

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we passed the budget resolution 56 to 
44. I want to end what has been a very productive week on this budget 
resolution--the debate and the vote earlier this afternoon--by 
congratulating the chairman of the Budget Committee, Senator Nickles, 
for doing an outstanding job in terms of leadership, in terms of 
keeping this train moving on time, so that legislative process will be 
able to go forward in a timely way.
  In addition, there are so many others to thank, but in particular I 
thank Senator Judd Gregg from New Hampshire, who spent so much time on 
the floor debating the various amendments and supporting the budget 
resolution and its ultimate passage today.
  In addition, on that committee, there are seven new Republican 
members. I thank them. The budget process is one that I had the 
opportunity to address first through that committee in my first 8 years 
in the Senate. I know it has been an eye-opening experience for them. 
They did a tremendous job in supporting their leader, their chairman in 
accomplishing this resolution passage today.
  In addition--and it has been mentioned on the floor several times 
this afternoon since we voted on the bill--we have had a very 
cooperative spirit. People have been able to express their

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opinions, to debate, to articulate their views as to what is 
appropriate to establish their priorities. But at the end of today--
this afternoon, shortly after 4 o'clock--I think we can all be proud, 
on both sides of the aisle, for developing a product that reflects that 
debate, that reflects the will of the Senate.
  I congratulate Members on the other side of the aisle, the ranking 
member, Senator Kent Conrad, the assistant Democratic leader, Harry 
Reid, and Minority Leader Daschle for their cooperation in moving this 
resolution to a conclusion today.
  I thank the staffs. It has been done on the floor already today, but 
I thank the staffs, under the direction of Hazen Marshall and Mary 
Naylor, for their long hours and dedication to the process. We saw 
their participation here on the floor. And in addition to that time on 
the floor, they have spent many hours developing this budget, they and 
their staff. I thank them because without their hard work, their 
tremendous dedication, what we have accomplished today simply would not 
have been possible.
  Today, we did accomplish a lot in passing this budget resolution. I 
say that because it was on the backdrop of last year, where we were 
unable even to bring a budget to the floor of the Senate. We were 
unable to ever see the conclusion that we saw today in this vote.
  I understand--and we all understand--this is the first step, the next 
is the conference, and then the reconciliation. But what we have done 
today is to establish the framework for that legislative process. It 
has taken a lot of cooperation on both sides of the aisle.
  The resolution today, in terms of the jobs and growth package, is, 
indeed, less than what I had preferred as we come forward. But the 
majority of people in this body did speak today. I do want to tell the 
Members on our side of the aisle that I will continue to work to 
achieve the growth in this resolution because I think it is important. 
In fact, it is incumbent upon us to address those jobs and growth 
issues to stimulate the economy, both in the short term, midterm, and 
long term.

  Again, that process has just begun. The resolution today accomplishes 
a lot. I am not going to go through the various priorities that were 
placed, but it establishes fiscal discipline on the spending side. It 
does that through what we call pay-go and certain spending caps. But it 
is important the American people understand that what we have done is 
slowed that growth of spending, which is absolutely critical to do in 
this environment of deficits.
  It strengthens and improves Medicare. That is our health care system 
and program for our seniors and our individuals with disabilities. It 
takes a major step forward to strengthen and improve that program so 
that we can better serve our seniors, so they will have more security 
in terms of their health in the future.
  In terms of our national defense and homeland security needs, it sets 
those parameters to accommodate that necessary funding, as spelled out 
by the Budget Committee, by the priorities in the Senate, and the 
Commander in Chief, the President of the United States.
  Fourthly, it increases funding for that much broader spectrum of 
education in an unprecedented way. It includes education K-12, IDEA--
that is the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act--for title I, 
and then there is veterans health and an initiative that is important 
to this body, global HIV/AIDS.
  But you wrap all that together and, most importantly, I think what we 
accomplished today is that we allow this legislative process to 
continue in an orderly, systematic way, to accomplish our 
responsibilities in this institution of the Senate.
  We are on course to finish the conference report of this budget by 
April 11. The law says that we do it by April 15. I think, just as we 
have today, we will be able to pass that in advance, not just on time, 
but in advance a few days.
  Again, I thank Chairman Nickles for being so instrumental in this 
process.

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