[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 56 (Wednesday, May 10, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S4327]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       FINAL PASSAGE OF H.R. 4939

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss 
why I made the difficult decision to vote against H.R. 4939, the 
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War 
on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery.
  The United States is involved in operations overseas while dealing 
with natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. On May 4, 
2006, I voted against a $109 billion spending bill that was $17 billion 
more than what the President originally requested. Of course, on 
occasion, times call for emergency spending, but this bill goes far 
beyond what anyone would call emergency spending.
  Many items in this bill do not constitute ``emergency'' spending. The 
bill would funnel millions of dollars to a road in Hawaii, millions of 
dollars in grants for research not related to emergencies, and still 
millions more to subsidize the volunteer work program AmeriCorps. Are 
these projects necessary? Possibly, but they are not an ``emergency.'' 
These spending proposals should go through the annual authorization and 
appropriations process. Congress must tighten the definition of what 
qualifies as an emergency. The use of supplemental spending bills must 
be saved for the true emergencies. True emergency funding is being 
bogged down with nonessential projects that have no business being in 
an emergency supplemental spending bill.
  We must not saddle our children, their children, and their children's 
children with debt that we incurred because we did not properly 
restrain our spending. My very first speech in the Senate Chamber was 
on the need for a balanced budget. In 1997, I said that the Federal 
Government must learn to live within its means. Without any restraint 
on spending, we are simply adding onto our Nation's enormous debt. 
Unfortunately, this is still true today.
  I recently visited American troops stationed in Kuwait. I always have 
and will continue to support our troops. I appreciate the sacrifices 
they make and the sacrifices of the families, friends, businesses and 
communities they leave behind.
  Our American service men and women should have the financial 
resources they need to fight this crucial war on terror. This bill 
should be about voting to provide financial stability that allows the 
U.S. Government to support our troops and our veterans into the future. 
It is unfortunate that other nonemergency spending projects made their 
way into an important bill that included vital funding for our troops. 
I wish that the Senate would have followed the President's proposal and 
only included funding for real emergencies.

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