[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 45 (Thursday, March 31, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2026-S2028]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts. Mr. President, I enjoyed the previous 
speaker's presentation. I come to the floor to talk about the ongoing 
negotiations between the White House, Speaker Boehner, and my 
colleagues in the Senate regarding the appropriations for the current 
fiscal year.
  Since the beginning of the 112th Congress, the House and Senate have 
been trying to find common ground to finish the appropriations for 
fiscal year 2011. Instead of reaching a long-term compromise, we passed 
no fewer than six short-term continuing resolutions.
  Not only does that disrupt our military men and women who are trying 
to serve but also every other facet of government and people's lives 
throughout this country. The funding resolutions that provide little in 
the way of addressing our staggering deficit have little certainty with 
our trading partners and absolutely no certainty whatsoever to the 
world market in terms of our ability to manage our Nation's finances.
  Sadly, rather than reaching a workable, bipartisan solution, 
responsibly addressing our staggering deficit, which is expected to 
reach $1.5 trillion this fiscal year, our leaders have repeatedly given 
us false choices between continuing resolution proposals that don't go 
far enough to reduce Federal spending and proposals that I believe 
establish the wrong priorities for me and my State and many other 
people as well throughout this Chamber.
  I believe many of the choices that were made disproportionately 
affect low-income families and seniors. One of my Senate colleagues, if 
you remember, characterized this process as a ``Hobson's choice.'' I 
agree. The world right now is looking for two things--the world 
markets, financial markets--and the people who invest in this country 
are looking for two things. They want us to do a lean and mean budget, 
get our fiscal and financial priorities in line now. They are also 
looking for us to tackle entitlements, whether it is military, Social 
Security, Medicare, Medicaid, et cetera. Then they will know that, in 
fact, they can invest here.
  When they invest, the money will be safe and they are actually going 
to get a good return. When Pimco doesn't even do more bonding with 
America, that is a sign. When we have other countries throughout the 
world being downgraded by the bonding services, it is a problem. We are 
in this financial kind of roll to negativity. We have to get our fiscal 
and financial house in order right away.
  I have been absolutely disappointed, and I know everybody listening 
in the gallery and those watching today have been absolutely 
disappointed by the pace of negotiations between the two Chambers. We 
have had FAA legislation. I want to fly in a safe plane. I get that. We 
have done the patent bill, and I want safe drugs and everything. I get 
that. We are on the small business bill now, and the Senator before me 
spoke--I am on the committee. I am happy to do it, and I get it. But 
are you kidding me? We are in the biggest financial mess we have ever 
been in, and we are doing everything but dealing with the financial 
mess.
  Here we are with over a $14 trillion debt. For people listening, when 
I came here, we had an $11.5 trillion national debt. Now it is over 
$14.3 trillion and counting. The deficit, unfortunately--despite 
passing six different CRs and an understanding that passing it would 
move our negotiations further along, we are once again faced with the 
likelihood of a government shutdown.
  I never, ever thought I would be a Senator from Massachusetts and 
come here and say: Oh, my gosh, I was here when they shut down the 
government. What do I tell the staff and the people back home? I am not 
going to participate in that. I am going to be a problem solver. If you 
are liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat--I don't care what 
your party is--I am going to find solutions to try to avoid any type of 
government shutdown. I don't want one. Nobody I am talking to wants 
one.
  We have to get these negotiations in perspective. We have to actually 
express to our leaders, as I just did, that, hey, we are concerned. I 
want to make sure we tackle these issues.
  While the Federal budget is only a small part, gosh, I can't tell 
you--and Senator Carper is here. How many times have we been in 
committee hearings and they are talking about wasting billions and 
billions of dollars--$76 billion just through one program that we are 
attacking.
  I was in the military budget hearing the other day. It is $104 
billion over budget for one weapon system. Are you kidding me? Really? 
It is phenomenal.
  We are debating cutting, I guess, $61 billion, give or take, but we 
don't have a problem with going over budget $100-plus billion in 
various programs and wasting billions of other dollars. So, on one 
hand, we are fighting about a small, minute part of what we are doing, 
and on the other hand, we are giving away the money.
  There was just a report that came out that said we are wasting 
billions of dollars on duplication. Executive order No. 1: Let's fix it 
so we don't have to worry about that, and that money we save can be 
used for seniors, kids, Pell grants, and all of the things people are 
fighting about right now. I will say, however, a government shutdown 
absolutely serves no purpose and is in nobody's best interest--not our 
country's, not the workers', and it is not in the global economy's best 
interest.
  I, for one, stand ready to work with any Senator or any Congressman 
or member of the administration who wants to get together and solve 
these very real problems. However, I am encouraged about the recent 
developments in the negotiations, which was the news breaking yesterday 
that a possible deal is close. That is great. They are talking about 
$33 billion. I just cited $104 billion in one military program. In 
Medicare, $76 billion goes out every year just because--I am happy 
doing it, but the world is looking for that fix, the lean and mean 
budget, but also for us to get entitlement reform, eliminate the waste 
and abuse--commonsense things that every person in this Chamber and 
everybody listening does in their homes and businesses.
  Why can't we treat the Federal Government like a business for once? 
This makes no sense to me. I am not the new guy anymore. You are the 
new guy, Mr. President. Congratulations for being the Presiding Officer 
today. Being the new guy, I hope you agree with me that we have to kind 
of work together--and we have tried to do that, you and I, Senator 
Carper, and others--to try to find that common ground. I think we agree 
on the number. It is just a question of do we tackle it here or there.
  I am from the approach of let's do a little of everything and satisfy 
every special interest and political interest and just get the problem 
solved. It will take real choices, tough choices right now. Everybody 
listening now absolutely understands that everything is on the table. 
We have to be fair and judicious in our cuts. How do we go from A to Z 
overnight? There is no transition period or no consideration for jobs, 
and, actually, the safety of people in some of these cuts.
  I stand ready to work with each of you to do what it takes and put 
politics aside. Listen, is there an election this year? I don't think 
so, because I am looking at 2011 right now--2011, as the one year, the 
one chance we have to actually solve problems, folks. In 2012, we can 
do whatever we do in the political season. I get it. For right now, we 
have a great opportunity to send a message to all those folks who say 
Washington is broken. In Washington, it is like, you are great, you are 
great, everybody is great. Senator Carper is great. He is one of my 
best friends here. But, listen, outside Washington, they have no clue 
what we are doing. They don't trust us or think we are addressing the 
real problems that affect our great country.
  Our collective work begins by having a clear understanding of the 
seriousness of our budget concerns. I know we have had bipartisan 
meetings. I am so encouraged, as a relatively new Member, that we have 
had about 60, 65 people come together to hear the number. Is it fact, 
fiction, or real? What is it?

[[Page S2027]]

We agree we are in trouble. So why aren't all the leaders of this great 
country--and there is plenty of blame to go around--getting together 
and seriously letting us know what the priorities are? Why doesn't the 
President call my office, or anybody else, and say: Scott, these are my 
priorities. I challenge you to work with me to get them done.
  What are his priorities for cuts? Does anybody up there know? I don't 
know. If he called you or me, I know we would give him the respect the 
office deserves, and we would go out and say: I will work with my 
colleagues, Mr. President, or Mr. Leader, or Mr. Minority Leader, and 
we will find those common things we can do. We can start with the 
report that just came out and eliminate all that duplication. In some 
instances, I think it was 26 agencies doing the same thing. Are you 
kidding me?
  I believe the responsibility we have been given is huge. Look at 
these young people. A lot of them came to the charity basketball game 
we had last night. It was so exciting to see their faces. They are 
excited to be here. Every one of them is saying: Oh, my gosh, I have 
been in the Senate, working for these people. We look up to them, and 
we expect them to do better and be better. They challenge us on a daily 
basis just by those bright eyes, the fact they are out back studying 
when they have a few minutes--some more than others, I might add--and 
they are looking for us to solve problems. It is really not even them 
we are worried about; it is their great-grandchildren.
  If we do nothing--is that what you want us to do, folks, nothing? I 
am not going to be part of the do-nothing caucus. I am going to look to 
find commonsense solutions and work toward commonsense goals, 
regardless of the outcome. If I lose, whatever, but I will have played 
a role in history. Right now, at this time, we need to make a 
difference, a change.
  I am so hopeful and I am an optimist. I believe we can do it better. 
I believe we have an opportunity to do it better right now. With our 
leadership and that of the other Senators who are going to be here 
soon, we can get together and solve the problems. We can battle in 
2012. The country is looking at us now to make a difference. I hope we 
will find the ability to do so. If we don't, then we will have missed a 
great opportunity to solve problems.
  Thank you. I appreciate the Chair's patience and his occasional 
smirks.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I wish to say to the Senator from 
Massachusetts, I saw no smirks on the face of this Presiding Officer.
  Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts. It was a good smirk.
  Mr. CARPER. He is a breath of fresh air and so is the Senator.
  I wish to follow up. I was not planning on doing this. I wish to talk 
a little bit about clean air and the responsibilities the Environmental 
Protection Agency has to meet the Clean Air Act. I wish to follow up on 
a point or two Senator Brown has mentioned.
  He talked about the deficit. I go back a little over 2 years ago, 
when then-Senator Barack Obama stood right over there and gave his 
farewell address to the Senate. It was a good time. A bunch of us were 
here to hear what the next President of the United States had to say.
  When it was over, he went down to where all the pages were sitting. 
Senator Obama went down and shook hands with the pages. He walked up 
this aisle to walk out. I walked over to him--as he was speaking, I had 
written down six points I thought he should focus on to reduce the 
deficit during the time he is President. He looked at my list and said: 
I can't read your writing, Tom. I said: I will send you an e-mail.
  By the end of the day, I sent him an e-mail amplifying on the six 
points I mentioned. Among the points I suggested is, we have a lot of 
improper payments in this government. We are overpaying billions of 
dollars, mistakes, and we need to do something about it.
  I told him we have a lot of fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. We need 
to, once we identify the fraud, have private sector contractors recover 
the money, get it back for the Treasury.
  I told him we have a problem with surplus property. There is a lot of 
property. We own thousands of pieces of property and land we do not 
use. We should sell it and stop paying utilities and security for that 
property.
  I said: We have cost system overruns for major weapons systems, and 
we need to do something about that. I said that in 2000, a major 
weapons system cost about $42 billion. By 2005, a major weapons system 
cost about $200 billion. By 2007, it was like $295 billion. I said: We 
have to do something about major weapons systems cost overruns. That 
should be on your to-do list, if I can be so bold.
  I mentioned taxes. There is a lot of money owed by companies to the 
Treasury not being collected. The IRS thinks it is over $300 billion a 
year.
  That is a pretty good bucket list for a new President-elect. I urged 
him, when he put together his administration, to focus on those points.
  Everything I just mentioned, the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs has been working on. Federal financial 
management--everything I just mentioned we have been working on, not 
every day but every week. We have been working on this list.
  Last month, we had a top official from the Department of Health and 
Human Services before our committee. Their responsibilities include 
overseeing Medicare and Medicaid. It turns out that improper payments, 
honest mistakes made in Medicare, were about $45 billion last year--$45 
billion. Overall in the government, not counting the Department of 
Defense, it is $125 billion. This is not fraud. These are mistakes, 
accounting errors--$125 billion. About half of it was Medicare. The 
administration testified before our committee about 1 month ago and 
said with regard to the improper payments for Medicare, which last year 
were $50 billion: We promise to cut that in half from $50 billion to 
$25 billion--a huge reduction.
  Eric Holder, our Attorney General, reports that in Medicare, he 
thinks the annual fraud numbers could be as much as $60 billion. Last 
year, the Attorney General recovered about $4 billion in fraud. The 
good news is that is more than we have ever recovered in any other year 
since keeping records. The bad news is there is $56 billion more cash 
on the table we need to get.
  We also put in the affordable health care law a number of tools for 
the Department of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General to 
reduce improper payments, reduce fraud, and get the money that has been 
misallocated and fraudulently taken. Those are a couple things.
  It is not as if no one is doing nothing. Some of us are doing a whole 
lot. One of the things we are trying to do in our subcommittee--and 
Senator Brown is the ranking Republican on that subcommittee. We have 
Rob Portman, Claire McCaskill, and Tom Coburn--people who do care about 
spending and trying to make sure we spend the taxpayers' money more 
effectively.
  What we are trying to do is replace what I call a culture of 
spendthrift with a culture of thrift, to look at every program, whether 
it is domestic programs, defense programs, entitlement programs, tax 
expenditures, tax loopholes, tax credits, to make sure we are getting 
the best bang for our bucks and, where we are not, to do something to 
fix it. We are actively involved in that and actually getting some 
results. We obviously need to do a whole lot more. I was not planning 
on speaking to this issue, but I wanted to mention that.
  Second, I wish to follow up on the comments of our Democratic whip, 
Senator Durbin, who authored legislation called the interchange 
amendment. He talked about it before Senator Brown did.
  There have been times in my life as Governor and a former naval 
flight officer and in the Senate when I did things that had unintended 
consequences. I had the best intentions, but there were unintended 
consequences to what I did. In my view, flowing from the interchange 
amendment we adopted and adopted in conference are unintended 
circumstances. The intent was good, which was to try to make sure that 
more of the money from the fee that is collected from swiping our debit 
cards went to the

[[Page S2028]]

consumer, not to the banks and not to the merchants. There is reason to 
believe consumers may not benefit from this at all. There was an effort 
to try to protect credit unions and smaller banks in the interchange 
amendment. As it turns out, the people who have been lobbying the 
loudest and pressing the most are the credit unions and small banks, 
community banks, saying there are unintended consequences.
  My hope is we can slow the process down, hit the pause button for 1 
year and figure out what the unintended consequences are and see if we 
cannot let cooler heads prevail and avoid unintended consequences and 
do something that actually may be good for consumers.

                          ____________________