[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 124 (Thursday, September 29, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S10705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         CONTINUING RESOLUTION

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, here we go again, yes, here we go again. The 
fiscal year ends tomorrow at midnight. Only two of the annual 
appropriations bills required to fund the Federal Government have been 
sent to the President. This is deja vu all over again.
  As a result, the Congress is rushing through the stopgap money 
measure called a continuing resolution in order to prevent a massive 
shutdown of the departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
  Is this the way to run a government?
  This is no way to run a government.
  The appropriations process is a very simple process, in reality. The 
President sends his recommendations to the Congress in the form of a 
budget, usually in early February. Subsequently, the House formulates 
reports, debates and passes 11 annual appropriations bills. To its 
credit, the House has done exactly that. It has done its job.

  What is wrong with the Senate?
  I commend the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Mr. Cochran. 
Yes, I commend him. With his steady leadership, the Senate 
Appropriations Committee has formulated and reported all of the annual 
appropriations bills. Eight of those appropriations bills have been 
passed by the Senate. Four appropriations bills are now pending in the 
Senate. This includes the Defense appropriations bill, the 
Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill, Labor-Health and Human 
Services-Education appropriations bill, and the District of Columbia 
appropriations bill, which is likely to be added to the Transportation 
appropriations bill in order to conform to the House version.
  That is where we stand today.
  What is the problem?
  Regrettably, the Senate Leadership has not seen fit to bring three of 
our appropriations bills to the floor. This is not the fault of the 
chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He has called upon the 
leadership, as did I, to give the appropriations bills high priority in 
the scheduling of floor time.
  The Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, the Transportation-
Treasury appropriations bill, and the District of Columbia 
appropriations bill were approved by our Appropriations Committee over 
2 months ago. I simply do not understand why the leadership is dragging 
its feet! Why not debate legislation that will fund critical 
investments in our schools, in our healthcare systems, and for our 
Nation's transportation infrastructure? Are Senators not going to have 
the opportunity to debate bills that provide over $211 billion?
  We need to debate each of these funding bills individually. We need 
to conference them individually with our House counterparts--not just 
consider them as sub-parts of a large omnibus package. That is what I 
believe the chairman of the Appropriations Committee wants, and that is 
what I, too, would like to see happen. I urge my colleagues to work 
toward that goal.
  It is unfortunate that most of the regular programs of the 
departments and agencies of Government will limp into the new fiscal 
year, which begins--when? this Saturday, the day after tomorrow, under 
the terms and conditions of a very restrictive continuing resolution. 
Here we are in the midst of one of the largest natural disasters to hit 
the United States, and only two regular appropriations bills have been 
enacted. One would think that the Congress would want to enact all of 
the annual appropriations bills before the beginning of the fiscal year 
so that the Federal agencies can hit the road running on October 1st 
and deal with the problems confronting the American people. Instead, we 
are enacting a very restrictive stop-gap measure that merely prevents 
the Government from shutting down. What a shame. It is very unfortunate 
that the House majority refused to fix the problem created by the 
continuing resolution for the Community Services Block Grant program, 
which provides critical healthcare and nutrition services to the 
neediest Americans. It is very unfortunate that, as we approach winter 
with fuel prices expected to grow dramatically, this continuing 
resolution reduces funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance 
Program.
  In conclusion, I am disappointed that the appropriations bills have 
not been enacted on a timely basis. Having said that, I urge my 
colleagues to support the continuing resolution. We have no other 
choice.
  I urge the leadership to call up the remaining appropriations bills, 
debate them, and send them to conference with the House. We have an 
obligation to the American people to get our work done. Debate and 
deliberation is what the Senate is supposed to be about--debate and 
deliberation and amending. The American people expect us to debate 
these bills and to protect the power of the purse and, thereby, protect 
their hard-earned tax dollars. These matters should not be swept under 
a carpet somewhere. More, not less, transparency is needed in debating 
appropriations bills. The Congress should have completed action on all 
the appropriations bills--not just two--on all the appropriations bills 
before the end of the fiscal year tomorrow night. Failing that, we 
should enact eleven individual, fiscally responsible annual 
appropriations bills before the termination of this continuing 
resolution on November 18th.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Allen). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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