[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 4 (Friday, January 23, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I opposed the omnibus 
appropriations bill that the Senate voted on yesterday. It is the 
latest example of the annual breakdown in the congressional 
appropriations process. Once again, instead of considering 
appropriations bills individually, the Senate voted on a massive 
spending bill that includes many--in this case, seven--of the annual 
appropriations bills.
  This process just invites the kind of problems--unauthorized 
spending, special interest provisions and legislative riders that go 
against the will of a majority in Congress--that we see in this omnibus 
bill. Take, for example, the Bush administration's proposed sweeping 
changes to regulations governing overtime pay for white-collar workers. 
These proposed changes would weaken overtime protections for these 
workers by changing the way that eligibility for overtime is 
determined. Both the House and the Senate are on record in favor of a 
provision that would block these changes from going into effect. 
Nonetheless, that provision was dropped in conference after the 
administration exerted tremendous pressure on those negotiating the 
final bill.
  Similarly, language that would have prevented the Federal 
Communications Commission from moving forward with its plan to loosen 
the national cap on television ownership was badly weakened. And, of 
course, there are numerous bad provisions in the bill, including one 
that would create a voucher program in Washington, DC, public schools 
and another that would prevent country of origin labeling on many 
agricultural products.
  I wish I could have supported this bill as there are a few worthy 
things in it, such as funding for global AIDS programs and for the 
rural AED Act, a program I created with Senator Susan Collins to 
increase access to defibrillators in rural areas. I am pleased that the 
bill contains language I fought for that would required Federal 
agencies to report on their purchases of foreign-made goods. As 
manufacturing jobs continue to disappear across the country, 
particularly in my home State of Wisconsin, the Federal Government 
should be doing everything it can to support American manufacturers. I 
am also pleased that the bill includes a provision I fought for to 
prohibit the Department of Veterans Affairs from enforcing its policy 
of prohibiting VA employees from taking proactive steps to let veterans 
know about the health care benefits for which they may be eligible.
  Those provisions do not outweigh the many bad ones in this bill, 
however. Mr. President, this is simply no way to fund the Federal 
Government. I regret that this ``must-pass'' bill is being used as a 
platform for bad funding decisions and for bad policy decisions, many 
of which override the will of a bipartisan majority of Congress. We 
need to go back to taking up and passing appropriations bills one by 
one, rather than throwing everything but the kitchen sink into a 
single, bloated piece of legislation.

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