[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 161 (Thursday, December 15, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S13627]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               LABOR-HHS APPROPRIATIONS CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I wish to spend a few minutes of my time 
talking about the Labor-HHS bill and a lot of the comments we have 
heard in the Chamber over the last couple days as to what we are and 
are not doing. I thought the American public should have a good 
perspective about what has happened in terms of the growth of this 
department since the fiscal year 1998 started.
  This is a tight budget. I commend those who are in charge of it. It 
is a vast improvement over what we have done in other years. There is 
no question there are some unmet needs that can be claimed out of this 
appropriations bill. That is the time we face in our country. The 
Federal Government cannot meet every need.
  In regard to history, Health and Human Services from 1998 to 2005, 
over that 8-year period, in real dollars has increased at over 10 
percent per year. It has actually increased over 13 percent per year, 
but we have had inflation of 3 percent. So what we have seen is an 
actual doubling of the size of that component of the Federal Government 
from September 30 of 1997 to today. It has doubled in size. Education 
is the same. Actually, education more than doubled in size, net of 
inflation. That is in terms of real dollars. So when we hear the words 
that we can't do what we are doing, I would have our fellow colleagues 
look down the road a little bit. This is just a taste of what we are 
going to be facing if we don't start making the choices based on 
priority.
  I tell you, we are on an unsustainable path even with this bill. We 
cannot meet those needs that need to be met if we continue to not 
prioritize in the functioning of the Federal Government.
  Again, I take seriously the claim that we would take away food stamps 
from people who have no other source of nutrition. But I also take 
seriously the claim and the knowledge reported by the Department of 
Agriculture and the Food Stamp Program that last year they paid out 
$1.6 billion in food stamps to people who were ineligible, who had 
other sources of income. And yet they continued to spend $1.6 billion.
  Why is all this important? It is important because this last year, 
ending September 30, we spent $538 billion more in that fiscal year 
than we took in. So the debate has to be in the context of what are we 
doing to our children and our grandchildren. We have to make a measured 
balance about how we make these decisions.
  The decision of trimming programs that are not effective and doing 
the hard oversight--the real thing that is lacking is us doing the work 
of oversight. We have opportunities lost when we don't put money into 
those programs that are more effective and take money from those 
programs that are less effective.
  The debate is centered about us and our constitutional duties to do 
oversight but also in terms of the future and what kind of heritage and 
legacy in terms of debt are we going to leave to our children.
  Overall, the Congress has done a good job with this bill. There are 
still tons of waste in this bill. This bill totaled has $602 billion 
worth of spending in it.
  I have one last comment, and that is there is $55 billion for the new 
Medicare Part D Program, of which only 1 out of every 15 people who are 
eligible for that program is a new person who would not have had drugs. 
So we are going to pay for 14 people who had insurance or other 
coverage to cover one additional person. And none of that money is paid 
for. That $55 billion is coming from our grandchildren.
  This is a program on which I did not have an opportunity to vote. I 
would have voted against it. I also didn't have an opportunity to 
attach it to a supplemental, which I would have offered, to eliminate 
or freeze this program because our children and our grandchildren 
absolutely cannot afford it. It is $8.7 trillion between now and 2050 
that we are going to put into this brandnew program that is starting 
today that helps 1 in 15. It helps 1 in 15 who need it. And yet we are 
saying it is OK for our children to pay that bill.
  I commend Senator Specter on his hard work on the bill. This is the 
first time in years that the hard choices have been made. I remind our 
colleagues that as we face the future with Social Security, Medicare, 
and Medicaid and a war and natural disasters, hard choices is what we 
are here for. Yes, as Senator Kennedy said today, we do need to be 
concerned about those who can't take care of themselves, but I put 
forward to my colleagues that with $600 billion--that is $20,000 per 
man, woman, and child in this country--we ought to be able to take care 
of them.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. CRAPO. I thank the Chair.

  (The remarks of Mr. Crapo and Mr. Thomas pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 2110 are printed in today's Record under 
``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.

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