[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 34 (Thursday, March 16, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E385-E386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR DEFENSE, THE GLOBAL WAR 
                ON TERROR, AND HURRICANE RECOVERY, 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 15, 2006

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Chairman, there are important provisions in the 
supplemental appropriations that I support. Funding for upgraded 
military vehicles and tanks in Iraq will help protect troops and the 
National Guard. There is funding for programs such as Community 
Development Block Grants which will help in the recovery from Hurricane 
Katrina along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. I'm proud to have 
helped lead Congressional efforts requesting the administration to 
include funding for peacekeeping in Darfur. This supplemental includes 
$253 million for these efforts in Sudan.
  However, I cannot support this bill collectively and as a 
supplemental that is outside of the regular order of the budget 
process. It is time we take the budget process seriously and get our 
spending priorities in order.
  This is the largest supplemental appropriations measure ever 
considered by the House of Representatives at nearly $92 billion. The 
bulk of this spending, $68 billion, is for military operations in Iraq 
and Afghanistan. These efforts have now been ongoing for years and I 
will not support the administration's and Republican leadership's 
attempts to camouflage hundreds of billions of dollars by handling it 
through supplemental bills, which are for unexpected or emergency 
items. Most of this spending is neither unexpected nor emergency in 
nature.
  The administration is asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling 
another $781 billion on top of the current $8.2 trillion limit and the 
House refuses to have a separate vote accepting responsibility to pay 
for its reckless fiscal policies. This supplemental spending bill is

[[Page E386]]

a symbol for an administration and Congress that refuse to take our 
fiscal situation seriously.

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