[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 24 (Thursday, February 8, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1746-S1750]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MAKING FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2007
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
proceed to the consideration of H.J. Res. 20, which the clerk will
report by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A joint resolution (H.J. Res. 20) making further continuing
appropriations for the fiscal year 2007, and for other
purposes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
Amendment No. 237
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment
numbered 237.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the
amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
At the end of the resolution add the following:
This division shall take effect 2 days after date of
enactment
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
Amendment No. 238 to Amendment No. 237
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I send a second-degree amendment to the
desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment
numbered 238 to amendment No. 237.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the
amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
In the amendment strike 2 and insert 1
Motion To Commit
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a motion to commit at the desk and
ask the clerk to report that.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] moves to commit the
joint resolution to the Appropriations Committee with
instructions to report back forthwith with the following
amendment numbered 239.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the
amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
amendment no. 239
At the end of the regulation add the following:
This division shall take effect 5 days after date of
enactment.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
Amendment No. 240
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment
numbered 240 to the instructions of the motion to commit H.J.
Res. 20.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the
amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
In the amendment strike 5 and insert 4.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
Amendment No. 241 to Amendment No. 240
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I send a second-degree amendment to the
desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment
numbered 241 to amendment No. 240.
The amendment is as follows:
In the amendment strike 4 and insert 3.
cloture motion
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close the debate on Calendar No.
18, H.J. Res. 20, Continuing Funding resolution.
Robert C. Byrd, Sherrod Brown, Joe Lieberman, Pat Leahy,
Patty Murray, John Kerry, Barbara A. Mikulski, Dick
Durbin, Ken Salazar, Jack Reed, Tom Harkin, Dianne
Feinstein, H.R. Clinton, Mary Landrieu, Herb Kohl, Carl
Levin, Byron L. Dorgan, Ben Nelson.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Republican leader and I have had many
discussions about possible amendments to this important funding bill.
The distinguished Republican leader has told me on several occasions it
is very important that we arrange that there be amendments to this
bill. I am doing my very best to try to work something out in that
regard. I do not know how to say this again. He does not need to tell
me again because he has told me so many times how important it is.
This bill was put together with bipartisan cooperation. The chairmen,
their staffs, and the subcommittees have worked very hard on getting us
to where we are now. We are in an unusual situation because this
legislation, which is truly bipartisan--as was the minimum wage bill,
as was the ethics and lobbying reform bill--is many degrees--many
degrees--more important than that because this legislation funds almost
every element of our Federal Government for the remainder of the fiscal
year. It has to be signed into law by Wednesday, a week from today. It
has to be. This bill allows us to complete last Congress's work and
permit the new leadership on both sides of the aisle to begin to
address the tasks involved in putting together the fiscal year 2008
appropriations bills.
We are in the position we are in because we are in this position. It
is not the first time. But I am confident, in my experience here, we
have never had such bipartisan cooperation trying to work our way out
of a difficult situation. It has not been easy. But we are where we
are. I express my appreciation to Senator Byrd, his staff, Senator
Cochran and his staff, and all their counterparts--the chairmen and
ranking members--for helping us get to the point where we are. It is so
important we do this so we can get on with the fiscal year 2008
appropriations bills.
As I said earlier today in congratulating Senator Cochran on his
10,000th vote, we need to pass appropriations bills, not for the
Republicans, not for the Democrats, not for the Senate, but for our
country. We are going to do everything we can to do that. And I will
continue to work with the distinguished Republican leader. I am sure I
will hear from him in the next few days more than I want to on this
subject. I am trying to work something out on the amendments, and I
will do my best to try to work something out.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following the opening
statements of Senator Byrd and Senator Cochran, we go into morning
business. Of course, that would also be after any remarks the
distinguished Republican leader wants to make.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Republican leader is recognized.
[[Page S1747]]
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I thank my good friend, the majority
leader, for his observations about our discussions over the last few
days about the possibility of consideration of some amendments on this
side of the aisle. I have been presenting those amendments to the
majority as we have collected them. There are a number of concerns
Members on this side of the aisle have that they would prefer to see
addressed through the amendment process, particularly given the
magnitude of this bill. I appreciate the majority leader considering
those requests and will continue to funnel those amendments over as we
get them.
Let me just say, by way of comparison, we have been here before. Four
years ago last month, the Senate had just changed hands from the
Democrats to the Republicans. Our good friends on the other side of the
aisle, at that point, had also not passed 11 of the 13 appropriations
bills. What the new Senate majority did in January of 2003 was to take
up a collection of bills, typically referred to around here as Omnibus
appropriations. Over 100 amendments were offered during the process of
consideration of that collection of appropriations bills, after which
they were passed. I had hoped that would have been the way we would
have proceeded this year. There was precedent for it 4 years ago.
Nevertheless, I understand the concern the majority leader has about
completing this work before midnight a week from now, and I understand
the other complications presented by trying to do a measure of this
magnitude in such a short period of time. Nevertheless, we will be
continuing our discussion, the majority leader and myself, about the
possibility of offering amendments that Senators on our side of the
aisle believe are important and would improve this massive bill, which
would fund the Government from now until September 30 of this year.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, if I could make one final statement--I see
the distinguished Senator from Texas on the floor--I have not only
heard from her staff but a number of her colleagues. This is one of the
amendments my staff is working on now to see if there is some way we
can maybe allow the Senator to move forward. But I say to the Senator,
I want you to know we are looking at it. I have had personal
conversations with my office staff based on being directed that way by
the Republican leader. So we are taking a look at this. I want you to
know that. There are other people who have concerns, not just you,
about base realignment closings. What is it called? BRAC, base
realignment. OK.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, if I could ask the majority leader if
I could respond.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I so appreciate what you have just
said. I do hope the door is still open. Originally, I had hoped we
could do the military construction as well as the base-closing
commission funding because the delays are going to have impacts
throughout the military services. But the amendment I am hoping to
offer, that I am told now you are considering--the Hutchison-Inhofe
amendment--only does the BRAC funding. It only restores the funding for
BRAC so that the 6-year time allotment this Congress itself has
mandated for BRAC to be completed can, in fact, be done. If we delay
the BRAC, it will have severe consequences on 12,000 troops coming home
hopefully this year. And there are so many other things. I know some of
the Members on your side of the aisle have talked to you about
environmental remediation that will not be able to be done, and other
things. So I so hope we can work this out so the House could approve it
and we would not have to have a conference.
I hope the majority leader will also consider, when we do go into the
supplemental, looking at some of the MILCON that must be done before
the 2008 budget starts for that year of funding. There are some
prerequisites that are necessary. But I have set that aside in
deference to the wishes of the majority to try to move a bill forward.
But I do think the BRAC has been the single area where we have not been
able to accommodate what needs to be done to move forward. And delays
are very costly.
I do thank you for making it a point to say that to me, and I think
we certainly would have time. I would work with anyone on the
Democratic side or House side to work out differences, if there are
differences. All of these projects in the $3.1 billion we would like to
put back in have been approved by Congress, approved by the Senate, and
asked for by the Department of Defense.
Mr. REID. I will be brief because I know the two managers of the bill
need to speak. As the distinguished Senator from Texas knows, I have
recognized the good work she and Senator Feinstein have done on the
Military Construction Subcommittee. It has been exemplary. It speaks
volumes about how the Senate has changed, that we had two women taking
care of the billions of dollars needed every year for military
construction. I know you know this issue.
On the BRAC issue, I have spoken to Senator Byrd and his staff. That
was one of the big issues that was in the beginning of trying to get
this CR to the point where it is. I personally have spoken to Chairman
Obey about this issue. This is a problem. It is a problem that has been
raised by Members of the House of Representatives and Senators. You
have my assurance that we will continue to look at this amendment. I
spoke to Chairman Obey, because he is getting a lot of talk on the
other side. He said: If you don't work something out on this, you have
my commitment that we will take care of this in the supplemental
appropriations bill. We are weighing all the considerations we have in
the most important phase of keeping our military safe, not only keeping
them safe but doing what we promised them to do, not only them but
their community which is depending on what we do here to make up for
the bases we are closing.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. McCaskill). The Senator from West
Virginia.
Mr. BYRD. Madam President, I want to assure all Senators that the
Appropriations Committee intends to address the $3.1 billion increase
proposed in the Senator's amendment when the Senate takes up the $100
billion supplemental that the President sent to the Congress this week.
I have every expectation that the supplemental will be before the
Senate next month.
Today marks the 131st day of fiscal year 2007. We are debating H.J.
Res. 20, a joint funding resolution for the nine remaining
appropriations bills that were not completed during the 109th Congress.
The Republican leadership, during the 109th Congress, left us with a
great deal of unfinished business in the appropriations process. Only 2
of the 11 appropriations bills were enacted into law. Thirteen of the
fifteen Federal departments--all but Defense and Homeland Security--are
limping along through February 15 under a very restrictive continuing
resolution.
This is not the fault of the Appropriations Committee. Under the very
able leadership of Chairman Thad Cochran, all of the fiscal year 2007
appropriations bills were reported from the committee by July 20. All
of the bills were bipartisan bills, with all but one of the bills
approved, 28 to nothing, in committee. Unfortunately, the Republican
leadership chose not to bring domestic appropriations bills to the
floor before the election and then chose not to finish those bills
after the election. Instead, Congress passed three very restrictive
continuing resolutions.
These resolutions, if simply extended, would leave huge problems for
veterans and military medical care, education programs, law enforcement
programs, funding for global AIDS, for energy independence, and for
agencies that provide key services to the elderly, such as the Social
Security Administration and the 1-800-MEDICARE call centers.
In December, I sat down with my friend, Senator Reid, and the new
House Appropriations chairman, Dave Obey, to plot a course for dealing
with this problem. We charted a course for developing a bipartisan and
bicameral funding resolution that the House and Senate could pass
quickly. During January, there were intense negotiations, which
included the majority and the minority in the House and Senate. I
consulted with Senator Thad Cochran several times during that process,
and his ranking members and their staffs were included throughout the
process.
[[Page S1748]]
The resolution that passed the House last week and is now before the
Senate is the product of those efforts.
The resolution, which totals $463.5 billion and provides funding for
the nine appropriations bills that were not completed during the 109th
Congress, meets several goals. Namely, first, funding stays within the
$872.8 billion statutory cap on spending, the cap which was set during
the 109th Congress and which equals the President's request. Second,
the legislation does not include earmarks--hear me--the legislation
does not include earmarks. The Appropriations Committee took the lead
in confronting the earmarks issue. We eliminated over 9,300 earmarks.
We will have a temporary moratorium on earmarks until Congress passes
the ethics reform bill. Hopefully, that bill will establish greater
transparency and accountability in the earmarking process. Once the
ethics reform bill is in place with its added transparency, we will
establish a more open, more disciplined, and more accountable process
for congressional directives in the fiscal year 2008 bills.
Third, there is no emergency spending in this resolution.
Fourth, for most agencies, funding is set at the fiscal year 2006
level. This formula replaces the current restrictive formula which was
based on the lower of the fiscal year 2006 or the unsustainable House-
passed level.
Finally, the essential national priorities receive a boost in the
legislation. To help pay for these essential national priorities, we
cut over $11 billion from 125 different accounts and we froze spending
at the 2006 level for 450 accounts.
While we decided to include a continuing resolution formula for
funding most agencies, it was essential that we, on a bipartisan basis,
make choices to deal with the many problems that would result from
simply extending the current continuing resolution.
As noted in the White House Statement of Administration Policy, many
of these increases also reflect administration priorities. For example,
for veterans medical care, we included $32.3 billion, an increase of
$3.6 billion over the fiscal year 2006 level, so that the VA can
continue to meet the growing demand for health care for our veterans.
For defense health initiatives, we included $21.2 billion, an increase
of $1.2 billion over fiscal year 2006, to provide care for military
members and their families, including treating servicemembers wounded
in action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Consistent with the fiscal year 2007
Defense Authorization Act, the President's proposal to charge members
of the military $735 million for their health care is rejected.
For the Labor, HHS, and Education bill, funding is increased by $2.3
billion, $7 billion above the President's request. Title I grants for
our schools are funded at $12.8 billion, an increase of $125 million
over fiscal year 2006, which will provide approximately 38,000
additional low-income children with intensive reading and math
instruction. In addition, the legislation funds the title I school
improvement fund at $125 million to target assistance to the 6,700
schools that failed to meet the No Child Left Behind requirements in
the 2005-2006 school year.
For the first time in 4 years, Pell grants will expand thanks to the
$13.6 billion included in this legislation, an increase of $615.4
million over fiscal year 2006 that will increase the maximum Pell grant
by $260 to $4,310.
The National Institutes of Health are funded at $28.9 billion, an
increase of $620 million over fiscal year 2006, for research to cure
debilitating and often deadly diseases. Community health centers would
receive $1.9 billion, an increase of $207 million, to finance more than
300 new or expanded health centers.
Three hundred million is included for the Federal Mine Safety and
Health Administration, MSHA, an increase of $23 million over fiscal
year 2006 and $13 million more than the request, to allow the agency to
continue its national efforts to hire and train new mine safety
inspectors for safety in the Nation's 2,000 coal mines.
The legislation increases funding for Federal, State, and local law
enforcement by $1.6 billion. According to the FBI, last year violent
crime rose in America for the first time in 15 years. In response, this
legislation directs $6 billion to the FBI, an increase of $200 million
over fiscal year 2006, to ensure that the FBI not only retains all of
its special agents but also completes the effort to double the number
of intelligence analysts hired since September 11, 2001. Other law
enforcement programs receiving support include State and local law
enforcement grants, the Judiciary, Treasury antiterrorism efforts, and
other crime prevention programs.
Under the continuing resolution now in law, highway funding is frozen
at the 2006 level. Under this joint funding resolution, the Federal aid
highway program is fully funded at the level guaranteed in the 2005
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act by
providing an obligation limitation of $39.1 billion for fiscal year
2007, $3.5 billion over the fiscal year 2006 enacted level.
The joint resolution includes $4.8 billion for Global AIDS and
Malaria programs, an increase of $1.4 billion over fiscal year 2006.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Food Safety and Inspection
Service receive increases of $220 million over fiscal year 2006 in
order to improve food and drug safety and to combat the threat of
pandemic flu.
We also include funds for technology and innovation. The Department
of Energy, Office of Science receives an increase of $200 million over
fiscal year 2006; the National Science Foundation receives an increase
of $335 million, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology
receives an increase of $50 million.
In an effort to promote energy independence, Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy programs will receive an increase of $300 million over
fiscal year 2006.
Finally, we also include $785 million to provide agencies with 50
percent of the cost of the January 2007 pay raise in order to avoid
RIFS and furloughs. The resolution will avoid the service delays for
Social Security and the 1-800-Medicare call centers that would result
from extending the current continuing resolution.
This is not a perfect resolution--we don't claim that--but it is a
thoughtful resolution. By complying with the statutory cap on spending,
it is a fiscally disciplined resolution. By eliminating earmarks, it
provides Congress with time to pass ethics reform legislation to
increase transparency and accountability. By targeting resources toward
national priorities, such as veterans and military medical care, we
solve the most distressing of the problems created by the existing
continuing resolution.
On February 2, 2007--that was Groundhog Day, wasn't it--I received a
letter from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American
Veterans, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and AMVETS, urging quick
passage of this legislation.
I ask unanimous consent that the letter be printed in the Record
following my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. BYRD. Madam President, adoption of this joint resolution will
ensure that we answer some of our Nation's most pressing needs and
avoid a totally unnecessary Government shutdown. The last time each of
the appropriations bills was signed into law by October 1, the
beginning of the fiscal year, was 1994. I was the chairman of the
Appropriations Committee that year. I am committed to working with my
friend and colleague, Senator Thad Cochran, to bring 12 individual,
bipartisan, and fiscally disciplined fiscal year 2008 appropriations
bills to the floor this year.
I urge swift adoption of the resolution. I thank all Senators.
I yield the floor.
Exhibit 1
The Independent Budget
a budget for veterans by veterans
February 2, 2007.
Hon. Robert C. Byrd,
Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Byrd: On behalf of the co-authors of The
Independent Budget--AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans,
Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Veterans of Foreign Wars--
we urge you to quickly pass H.J. Res. 20, a bill making
continuing appropriations for FY 2007 for the federal
government, including the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Currently, the VA is operating at FY 2006 funding levels.
[[Page S1749]]
The stop-gap budget bill, or continuing resolution, funding
much of the federal government for the current fiscal year,
includes a $3.6 billion increase for the Department of
Veterans Affairs while spending for many other agencies was
held at the 2006 level. Approving funding for the VA at
levels included in H.J. Res. 20 would show that the Senate
believes veterans are a national priority.
Any attempt to retreat from the levels established in this
legislation will have a drastic impact on veterans' health
care and benefits services provided to the men and women who
have served and sacrificed so much for this country. Without
this critically needed funding, the VA will be forced to
place further freezes on hiring of critical staff. It will
also lead to additional canceled appointments and longer
waiting times. The VA will also be unable to address the
rapidly growing claims backlog.
We hope that the Senate will show its support for the men
and women who have in the past and continue to place
themselves in harm's way. With these troops still in the
field, now is not the time to allow politics to get in the
way of doing what is right.
Sincerely,
David G. Greineder,
National Legislative Director, AMVETS.
Carl Blake,
Acting National Legislative Director, Paralyzed Veterans of
America.
Joseph A. Violante,
National Legislative Director, Disabled American Veterans.
Dennis Cullinan,
National Legislative Director, Veterans of Foreign Wars of
the United States.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi is recognized.
Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, first, I want to express my deepest
appreciation for the compliments and recognition given to me for
reaching the milestone of casting 10,000 votes in the Senate. I
sincerely thank all of those who said such generous things about me and
my service in this body.
It is with decidedly mixed feelings that I join my distinguished
friend from West Virginia, the chairman of our Committee on
Appropriations, in calling up and discussing H.J. Res. 20, the
continuing resolution. This is the fourth continuing resolution we will
have considered in this fiscal cycle, but without question it is the
most critical. It is critical because it provides more than $463
billion to fund, for the remainder of this fiscal year, virtually all
of the agencies and activities of the Federal Government outside the
Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, as well as certain
critical problems within the Department of Defense itself. It is a very
important piece of legislation.
Yet the way the legislation is constructed concerns me greatly. It is
an odd hybrid between a continuing resolution and an Omnibus
appropriations bill. Continuing resolutions are not a desirable means
of funding the operations of Government over the long term or in the
routine way of providing funding. They are useful in buying time until
Congress can complete its work on individual appropriations bills, but
they are blunt, formula-driven instruments.
Omnibus appropriations bills, though certainly not without precedent,
are far from an ideal means of funding our Government. Omnibus bills
combine funding for too many programs into a single bill, and they are
not conducive to careful deliberation. Combining these two structures--
a continuing resolution and an omnibus bill--is not the way the
American people deserve Members of Congress to fulfill our
constitutional obligations.
We have a responsibility to fully debate and pass the individual
spending bills, funding each department of Government as we have
structured them, with close supervision of subcommittees who have
become aware of individual needs and opportunities in each of these
bills for the hearings process, and that is not the way this continuing
resolution has been constructed. The Appropriations Committee has had
hearings, we have had markups, we have listened to outside witnesses,
and we have taken into consideration recommendations from the President
and department officials about what should and should not be funded,
and at what levels the funding should be. This is an open process--and
this has been an open process--where anybody can observe and review any
provision that is part of any bill. It is truly a public process.
The process has helped us make good decisions historically about
programs that deserve funding--careful decisions, identifying programs
that are of lower priorities within the constraints of the budget
resolution, decisions about which programs should be terminated and
have served their usefulness.
The Congress should consider these individual appropriations bills on
their individual merits in both the House and the Senate and on the
floor of each body. Then conferences occur and we iron out differences
between the House and Senate-passed bills in the regular order. That
gives all Members--not just those on the committee--the opportunity to
offer amendments, to reduce or increase spending funded in the bills.
Members have the opportunity to offer amendments to remove, or add, or
revise language that shapes agency policies. We should not shy away
from these debates and these amendments.
I am concerned that the continuing resolution before us is deficient
because we did not follow that process. The continuing resolution
required a great number of difficult decisions, including the
elimination of some important projects and programs. Programs that
provide flood control and natural resources conservation, grants to
schools and health clinics and fire departments have been eliminated.
The funding levels for various Federal scientific research institutions
and programs are below levels proposed by the President. The funding
levels for programs, such as defense base closure and realignment,
which has been pointed out, may compel us to consider future
supplemental funding requests. In some cases, reductions proposed by
the President, or by the House or Senate, have not been adopted.
I understand the circumstances that led us to this point. The House
of Representatives last year passed all but one of the appropriations
bills before the end of June. In the Senate, the Committee on
Appropriations completed action and reported all of the appropriations
bills before the end of July. Those bills were available to be called
up and considered by the Senate in the regular order at that time. It
would have been the earliest that had occurred in a very long time. But
after that, the process broke down. Most of the bills were not called
up for consideration in the Senate. We did pass the bill for the
Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and Military Construction
and the Veterans Affairs appropriations bill was approved in November.
But for reasons that have not been explained to this date, that bill
did not proceed to conference with the House. Congress eventually
adjourned and the new leadership in the 110th Congress was created with
a range of unattractive options.
My preference would still have been to consider individual
appropriations bills and send them to conference, but that was not my
decision to make. I hope to work with the majority to make sure we
don't face this situation again.
The chairman, Mr. Byrd, my dear friend, is correct when he says there
were extensive bipartisan consultations in the drafting of this
legislation. That was important. I appreciate his efforts to seek our
input, all members of the committee; but no Senator--certainly not this
Senator--can speak for the entire Senate. There is little doubt in my
mind that if individual appropriations bills had been considered by the
Senate and sent to conference in either this Congress or the last, many
of the individual decisions would be different from those provided in
this continuing resolution.
Having said that, this resolution does conform to the discretionary
allocation of $873 billion approved by the previous Congress. It funds
many important programs and department activities at the fiscal year
2006 levels, and it increases other priority programs beyond fiscal
year 2006 funding levels. Judged by any reasonable standard, it is
devoid of earmarks, as the distinguished chairman has pointed out.
I wish the Congress had completed floor action on the individual
bills, but we did not. This continuing resolution appears to me to be
the best option to meet our obligation to fund Government programs and
services. It is a 137-page piece of legislation that Senators should be
able to amend. This is not the same as a conference report. It is the
first time these bills have come before the Senate. So I urge the
Senate
[[Page S1750]]
to restore regular order to the fiscal year 2008 budget process so we
can avoid this type of situation in the future. I know that is the goal
of my friend from West Virginia, and I pledge to him my best effort to
help accomplish this goal.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Salazar). The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his views. I am
absolutely committed to bringing 12 individual bipartisan and fiscally
responsible fiscal year 2008 bills to the floor this year. However, for
the nine remaining 2007 bills that we must have, we are now 131 days
into the fiscal year. Over one-third of the fiscal year is gone, it is
over, it is past.
I very much appreciate the Senator and his colleagues for joining me
in the bipartisan development of this bill, and I believe we must move
forward.
Again, I thank the Senator very much for his cooperation.
I was about to suggest the absence of a quorum, but I yield the
floor. I see the distinguished Senator seeking recognition.
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