[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 167 (Thursday, December 16, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S10312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Omnibus Appropriations

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I want the American people to see 
something. This is the bill the majority would have us pass, this 
Omnibus appropriations bill. It is 2,000 pages long. I think the 
American people should think back to this time a year ago--last 
December--when the Democrats did the very same thing. At that point, it 
was a 2,700-page health care bill because, frankly, they didn't want us 
to see what was in it. Only afterwards did we find out about the 
``Cornhusker kickback,'' the ``Louisiana purchase,'' and all the rest.
  This is eerily familiar to anyone who remembers the health care 
debate. We even have snow in the forecast, which is reminiscent of last 
year. Last year we voted on health care in a blizzard--the 2,700-page 
health care bill in the middle of a blizzard.
  This bill is so enormous it took the Government Printing Office 2 
days to print it. It spends more than $\1/2\ billion a page. Let's take 
a look at it again.
  Here is the bill. It spends--right at 2,000 pages in this bill--it 
spends $\1/2\ billion a page. It has more than $\1/2\ billion in it for 
the Democratic health care bill we passed last year, the 2,700-page 
bill that looked pretty much like this. It has $\1/2\ billion in it for 
that health care bill we passed last year.
  An ever-growing number of Americans looking at that health care bill 
would like for us to repeal it, not fund it. This is exactly the kind 
of thing the American people voted against last November--just this 
kind of thing. We had a referendum on November 2 on how the American 
people felt about what we have been doing for the last 2 years, 
and right at the top of the list was the 2,700-page health care bill.

  Frankly, it is just unbelievable. Just a few weeks after the voters 
told us they don't want us rushing major pieces of complicated, costly, 
far-reaching legislation through Congress, we get this 2,000-page bill. 
They want to ram this gigantic, trillion-dollar bill through Congress, 
and they are using, once again, the Christmas break as an inducement to 
vote for it.
  Look, we all know this is not the way to legislate. Americans expect 
more from Congress and they demanded more on election day. That is why 
today I am introducing this clean, one-page continuing resolution that 
would operate the government through February 18. So we have a choice. 
We can pass this 2,000-page bill spending $\1/2\ billion a page, or we 
can do this one-page, clean continuing resolution through February 18 
of next year. That is the choice we have.
  Once the new Congress is sworn in, we will have a chance to pass a 
less expensive bill, free of this kind of wasteful spending. Until 
then, we need to take a step back and respect the will of the voters.
  I think the message was pretty clear last November. One pundit 
referred to it as a restraining order. In other words: Quit doing what 
you have been doing. Here we are 1 month after the election attempting 
to pass this 2,000-page bill when we could pass a one-pager that would 
simply continue the government through February 18.
  So we are going to have an opportunity to do this. I hope it makes 
sense on a bipartisan basis, this one-page continuing resolution until 
February 18, as an alternative to this 2,000-page monstrosity that 
spends $\1/2\ billion a page. I don't think there is any question it is 
the right thing to do, and I hope my colleagues decide in the end that 
is the direction we ought to take. I am going to introduce this, and I 
just wanted to highlight it for my colleagues.


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