[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 13, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S5765]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FREEZING APPROPRIATIONS
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I have a statement that I would like to
make, first on a letter and announcement that all the Republican
members of the Senate Appropriations Committee have sent to the
chairman of the committee today.
Because Federal spending and debt are at crisis levels, Republican
Senators on the Senate Appropriations Committee are asking our
Democratic colleagues to join us in supporting the Sessions-McCaskill
freeze on discretionary Federal spending. Every Republican--every one
of us--and 17 Democratic Senators already have voted for the Sessions-
McCaskill amendment this session several times.
The amendment would basically freeze Federal discretionary
appropriations--both military and nonmilitary--which constitute about
38 percent of the Federal budget. This action by the Senate members of
the Appropriations Committee is especially important this year because
the Democratic Congress has refused to produce a budget.
Here we are, at a time when almost every American is deeply worried
about the level of Federal debt and the level of Federal spending, and
the first thing we would expect the Congress to do before it plans for
next year is to produce a budget that would be able to restrain this
spending--both the discretionary part of it, the kind we appropriate
year after year--and begin to deal with the entitlements--the mandatory
spending that is on automatic pilot. The Democratic Congress has not
produced that budget for next year, and it indicates it will not. So
it, therefore, is the first job of the members of the Appropriations
Committee to decide how much we can spend.
Year in and year out we decide where and how we spend the money. That
is the constitutional responsibility of Congress under article I, and
that is the job we do. Perhaps we haven't paid as much attention to the
first responsibility as we should. Perhaps we have relied too much on
the Budget Committee. Well, not this year. What we are saying is, if we
are going to be members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and if
our responsibility is to deal with Federal spending, then the first
question we should decide is how much Federal spending.
At a time when Federal spending and debt is at crisis levels, when
the President's 10-year budget, up through the year 2018, would double
the debt and triple the debt, it is our responsibility to get this
under control.
So our recommendation--and it is a serious recommendation, and one we
hope and believe our colleagues who are Democrats on the Appropriations
Committee will be able to accept because it is a bipartisan proposal
that has already, as I mentioned, received between 16 and 18 Democratic
votes on the floor of the Senate, and every single one of the 41
Republican Senators--is that we essentially freeze spending in the
discretionary accounts, both military and nonmilitary, between this
year and next year.
The Federal debt is a crisis that is imposing a burden on our
children and our grandchildren that they will not be able to pay. It is
our responsibility to deal with it and to begin to deal with it now. A
Sessions-McCaskill freeze on Federal discretionary spending for next
year is an important first step. The next step would then be getting
entitlement spending under control, which we should move on as rapidly
as possible.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record
a copy of the letter from Republican members of the Senate
Appropriations Committee which I referred to earlier in my remarks.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC, July 13, 2010.
Dear Mr. Chairman: As Republican members of the
Appropriations Committee, we are writing to express our views
regarding the Fiscal Year 2011 appropriations process.
The Committee is operating in a particularly difficult
environment during this Congress. The enormity of the Federal
debt poses a direct threat to our national security and
demands restraint of Federal spending. Developing a consensus
approach to funding the operations of the Federal government
in such an environment is a significant challenge.
Despite the clear need for a long term plan that would
bring our nation's debt under control, it is apparent that
Congress will be denied the opportunity to debate a Federal
budget this year. Our Committee will instead be compelled to
choose a discretionary top-line number outside the context of
a comprehensive budget resolution.
Over the last two years discretionary spending has
increased by 17%, not including stimulus spending. With
stimulus spending included the increase soars to 84%. We note
that a bipartisan majority of the Senate has voted several
times in recent months on the Sessions-McCaskill proposal to
impose a discretionary top-line for Fiscal Year 2011 that
essentially freezes non-defense spending, and which would
result in significant reductions in spending from the
President's budget proposal. This is a clear indication of
the broad concern that exists about levels of Federal
spending.
We are confident that, working together, our Committee can
produce bills that responsibly address fundamental government
needs in a fiscally responsible manner. We will not, however,
be able to support appropriations bills that do not conform
to this top-line number.
Sincerely,
Mitch McConnell, Thad Cochran, Judd Gregg, Lamar
Alexander, Susan Collins, Bob Bennett, Kit Bond,
Richard Shelby, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Sam Brownback,
George V. Voinovich, Lisa Murkowski.
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