[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 12, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1676-S1678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I am rising to speak on the continuing
resolution to keep government funded for the rest of the year.
I chair the full committee of the Appropriations Committee. My very
able and esteemed colleague, Senator Shelby, is the vice chairman. We
come to the floor to talk about our legislation, which is an amendment
to the House CR to fund the Federal Government for the rest of the
fiscal year. It continues the bipartisan tradition of the
Appropriations Committee working closely with both sides of the aisle,
and I wish to thank Senator Shelby for his excellent cooperation and
his wise counsel in doing this and actually cosponsoring this.
Our leadership, Senators Reid and McConnell, has been critical to
allowing us to come to the floor and have our bill be debated openly,
to have appropriate amendments, and then to have it voted on by the
full Senate. In today's toxic environment in Washington, I must say our
conversations have been characterized by civility, collegiality, and
absolute candor--what we can do; what we can't do, not what we would
like to do but what we must do to keep the government's doors open.
I also want to comment on the excellent tone and conversation we have
had with the House, specifically our House counterparts, Hal Rogers,
the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Congresswoman
Nita Lowey. We have talked with each other and worked together, and if
we continue to do that without other intervening dynamics, we can get
this bill done.
Before I go into our bill to offer its content, I want everybody to
understand there are three things at play in Washington this week. We
use arcane language, so nobody knows what is going on. There is the
sequester, there is the continuing resolution, and there is the Budget
Committee. Everybody is going to get confused because everybody is
getting it commingled. All of it is getting press and the American
people don't understand there are three separate solutions to three
separate problems.
Let me go to the Budget Committee, which will be on the floor next
week, and Senator Murray is vociferously and persistently working on
that bill. That is for fiscal year 2014. That is the framework on how
we are going to approach our overall budget: What are we going to
spend, what revenues we are going to have to raise, if any, and also a
review of mandatory spending. That is going on over there. That is for
fiscal year 2014.
The Mikulski-Shelby continuing resolution is the appropriations
bill--not a personality bill--that will fund the government through
2013. The American people might say: Didn't you do that in October?
Isn't our fiscal New Year's Eve October 1? Well, not really. What
happened is we were going into the heat and passion and prickliness of
an election year, so the wise heads thought it best to extend it where
cooler heads would prevail in March. So here we are. We are the cooler
heads, and we are ready to prevail. What we have here now is that
legislation.
Everybody needs to understand this: On March 27, that continuing
resolution expires. If we do not pass our bill and then have an
agreement between the House and the Senate that is signed by the
President, we could face a government showdown. There is no will on
either side of this institution that wants to do that. We are
absolutely committed to no shutdown, no showdown, no lockdown, no
slamdown. We want to do the job, and that is why we have been working
very carefully to do that.
What we will offer today is funding through the fiscal year, which
will take us to October 1, and that meets the mandatory cap assigned to
us by the Budget Committee of $1.4 trillion. That is a lot of money,
but it is a big government with big responsibilities. It includes
everything from defense--defending us over there--to the border
control--defending us here--to meeting compelling human need and making
investments in science and technology while ensuring we do what we need
to do.
Our legislation is quite simple and straightforward. It includes five
appropriations bills. Two are already in it from the House--defense,
military construction, and veterans. It will also include agriculture,
homeland security, and a subcommittee that Senator Shelby and I are
chair and vice chair of that funds the entire Justice Department. That
means FBI, Federal law enforcement, and science and commerce. So we
have Ag, CJS, homeland security and defense. Defense and military
construction are identical to the House. Agriculture, CJS and homeland
security are consistent with bipartisan and bicameral agreements
negotiated last fall.
Remember, we are reaching across the aisle, we are reaching across
the dome. That is how we are trying to do it. However, there are seven
remaining bills in the continuing resolution, and they are energy and
water--money for things such as the Corps of Engineers--interior and
environment, financial services, transportation, Labor-HHS, state and
foreign ops, and the legislative branch. That means they are provided
current funding levels and policies with some very limited changes to
fix present problems. These are called anomalies.
The Senate version, as I said, totals $1.43 trillion, which is equal
to the House CR. So the top line is the same; the difference is how we
achieve national goals. It is equal to the House continuing resolution,
and it is the same as required by the Budget Control Act. We are
absolutely in compliance with the Budget Control Act.
Sequester mandates another $86 billion in cuts. That comes over what
we do, and that solution is to be negotiated by the President and the
leadership with the concurrence of both bodies. That is part of the
charm offensive that is going on now. OK. Sequester needs a balanced
solution, and we will be listening and awaiting their ideas, but right
now we are looking at our bill that includes bipartisan amendments,
minimizing the problems of operating and returning to a regular order
for fiscal year 2014.
The amendment we offer is much better than an extension of the
current continuing resolution. Why don't we take a date and just change
2012 to 2013? We don't do that because our bill makes reforms. We
actually get more value for the dollar. If we just extended it, we
would sometimes be spending money on unneeded programs, one of which
would be--in our bill, CJS--$500 million for a space shuttle that
doesn't exist. We want to change that and put it where it belongs, into
the proper defending of our Nation and investing in science and
technology. So a date change in a continuing resolution is not
workable.
The Senate amendment improves the House CR by adding those three
domestic bills and, as I said, includes a number of changes. I could go
through each and every one of those changes, such as in agriculture,
but what I wish to do is explain the process now. I do want to explain
the content of my bill; however, I am going to take 1 minute now and
yield to Senator Shelby for his opening statement and then I will come
back and explain the details of our actual funding.
I must say again, I have appreciated not only the civility and the
collegiality but the candor. We had to look at not what we would like
to do and not even what we should do but what we must do to keep
government operating, to achieve the national goals America wants: our
national security, both those who wear the uniform of the U.S. military
as well as others who defend the Nation, such as border control,
Federal law enforcement, law enforcement at the local
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level, food safety and drug safety inspectors, to make sure we meet
compelling human need in the fields of education, biomedical research.
This is what we are trying to do--weather satellites that predict
future natural disasters.
Again, we don't have a bill that is what we would like to do, what we
have is a bill that is what we must do. If we all work together--and we
ask those who have amendments to be working with our leadership--we
believe we can move this bill by the middle of this week; that by the
week's end, the certainty of government funding will have been
established and we will have shown we can govern.
I yield the floor so my vice chairman can say what he wishes to say
to add to the debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, first of all this morning I would like to
thank Chairwoman Mikulski for her willingness to work together in good
faith and to introduce the bill that keeps the government running for
the rest of the fiscal year. The chair and I have had what I would
characterize as a long and productive working relationship. I think
this bill is a very clear signal that we intend to continue that
relationship for the good of the legislative process and the American
people.
I believe Congress must learn to deal with the spending constraints
that have become a necessary reality for all of us. Much more work
remains to be done to secure our fiscal future, including fixing
entitlement programs and reforming our Tax Code. However, today we have
taken the first step to show the American people Congress can come
together on important issues. My hope is we will continue to do so.
I am pleased to say Chairwoman Mikulski and I have accomplished three
shared goals in this proposed legislation. First, this bill will
prevent a government shutdown. Nobody in America wants that. Moving
from one continuing resolution to the next only delays our problems and
creates added uncertainty. I hope we can return to the regular order of
producing budgets and appropriations bills to avoid the threat of a
shutdown in the future.
Second, this bill will provide more flexibility for the remainder of
the year so that government agencies can deal with the reality of the
sequester which remains fully in place here.
Third, I believe this bill is a product both parties in both Houses
can support. It prioritizes spending and aims to steer clear of
divisive issues.
In addition, discretionary spending is subject to the caps put in
place by the Budget Control Act, and this bill complies with those
levels. As noted, spending cuts made by the sequester will come on top
of these constraints.
I support moving forward with this bill, and encourage my colleagues
to join together to do the same. Many Americans have lost faith that
Republicans and Democrats can work together on anything. I believe this
bill demonstrates it is possible, and I hope it will pave the way for a
more productive relationship in the future. And while we are sure to
disagree on many issues, I remain positive we can restore regular order
in the Congress and deal with pressing fiscal matters in a timely
bipartisan manner.
I think I speak for both of us when I say we are committed--yes, we
are committed--to putting the budget and appropriations process back on
track. We look forward to working with our colleagues who share that
goal and are willing to join us in this effort. This is a new
beginning.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, you can see our tone. We need
everybody's cooperation, if they have amendments, to bring them to us
and also to the leadership which is helping us negotiate which ones
will come up, and I think we can get this bill done this week.
But I wish to say why getting it done is worthwhile. I want to speak
about agriculture, and I wish to speak about some of the content we
have, and do it in alphabetical order because it is easier for folks to
follow.
In agriculture, our amendment makes sure we fund the Food Safety
Modernization Act which is not included in the House bill. This is the
first major reform of food safety laws in 70 years and is much needed.
CDC says 48 million Americans suffer from food-borne illness each year.
This morning before I came to the floor, I attended a hearing on the
Select Committee on Intelligence that I am a member of. General James
Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, along with key people
from the military, civilian agencies such as FBI Director Mueller, gave
us a 30-page report on threats to the United States. One of the things
they talked about was the safety of our food supply. We need to make
sure we have inspectors on the ground for what might occur through
bacteria or what might also be induced. So food safety is a big issue.
This amendment is also better at improving clean water to rural
communities, and provides 165 rural communities with clean water and
waste disposal, creating construction jobs today, and improving
community health. I am very well versed in that because, along with
Senator Cardin, we represent 2,000 miles of the Chesapeake Bay. We have
older communities. We have issues related to wastewater treatment that
are not only polluting the Bay but are very difficult to repair because
of the very nature of our population--wonderful, patriotic people who
don't have a lot of cash to pay a lot of taxes for wastewater. But in
helping them, we improve public health and we save the Chesapeake Bay
with all its seafood industry. That is just me. But we could go
everywhere.
Commerce, Justice, Science, that is a subcommittee I chair. Boy, do I
like it. Why do I like it? Because it goes to everything we are talking
about: about justice, about jobs today and jobs tomorrow. When we look
at our Department of Commerce, which should be the point place for
American business really promoting private sector initiatives and, most
of all, promoting exports--not sending jobs overseas but sending
products and services--that is where the trade negotiation goes. This
is part of our economic vitality. This is where we have bipartisan
agreement. Let's engage in free and open and fair trade. That
negotiation staff and so on is funded through our subcommittee.
We also want to protect our borders. That is going to be in homeland
security. In our justice funding, we fund Federal law enforcement and
provide funds to local communities on a competitive basis to put cops
on the beat and to give them the appropriate things they need to
protect themselves.
Let's look at the Byrne grants, the main Federal tool that helps
State and local law enforcement. We provide more money. That means more
money for body armor, more money for them to learn the latest tips and
so on, and stopping the gang threat. It also provides COPS on the Beat
grants. Both of those are modest increases over the House funding. When
I say modest, do you know what I am talking about? For all that local
law enforcement does, we are going to provide $15 million. That is not
a lot of money by Washington's terms, but to the local police
departments it will be a help.
Commerce-Justice also supports innovation. It is in this subcommittee
that we fund the National Science Foundation $220 million more than the
House. That means we will be able to provide more help to 7,000
scientists and teachers making new discoveries for new products that
will lead to new companies and new jobs. This is what we do.
We are better than the House also in homeland security. This
amendment does more to protect the Nation from cyber warfare. Cyber
warfare is one of the greatest threats facing America. Again, in this
30-page report we have on threats, the first five pages were devoted to
all of the cyber problems. What kind of cyber problems? Cyber attacks,
cyber espionage, and the growing nexus between organized crime and
nation states, preventing hacking, stealing our state secrets, our
trade secrets and also the human trafficking of children and women,
weapons of mass destruction. Where you sell women and children as a
commodity across the borders of the world through organized crime and
corrupt government officials, you will also sell other kinds of things,
including weapons of mass destruction. So this is where we need to fund
homeland security, the Department of Defense, the FBI, our contribution
to Interpol. All of that is in the bill, and we do better--not a lot
better
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because we are frugal; again, not what we would like to do, but what we
must do.
Also under homeland security, we make sure we look at that which puts
people in harm's way. In my own State, and others, there is the issue
of fires. Most fire departments in big cities are run by professionals,
but in most rural communities they are run by the great volunteer fire
departments. We have a fire grant program that I helped start that
trains and equips local firefighters. What we do here is provide more
money--$33 million above the House--to help provide those grants, and
we also provide additional funds to help State and local fire
departments.
In the area of compelling human need, I want to talk about the
Subcommittee on Education, Labor, and Human Services. This is the
subcommittee that funds compelling human need. And what do we do here?
We look after childcare development block grants, we support care for
9,000 more children, and we also make sure we adequately fund Head
Start by providing modest sums there.
In addition, we also provide more money to the National Institutes of
Health, $71 billion. But put that into the context that they are going
to take a $1.5 billion hit in sequester.
I know the Presiding Officer represents a great State, Hawaii. Who
wouldn't love Hawaii? But I wish the Presiding Officer would look at
Maryland. Not only do we have the wonderful Chesapeake Bay, a Super
Bowl championship, but we have other ``super bowl'' winners. They are
called the National Institutes of Health, the National Security Agency,
the National Weather Agency.
Just the other day when I was over at NIH, they told me--and told
America through their communications--that NIH's work, working with
clinicians and the private-led science sector, has reduced cancer rates
in the United States of America by 15 percent in breast cancer,
prostate cancer, lung cancer. And it is all those wonderful researchers
at the Bethesda campus and in academic centers of excellence all over
America. But instead of pinning medals on those people and encouraging
young people to come into science, we could end up giving them a pink
slip. What are we doing?
I not only want to lower cancer rates, but I want to improve and
raise the discovery rate. This is what we do in this CR. We are working
with them on a bipartisan basis. This is helping American people and
giving us products that are approved by FDA that we can sell and ship
around the world, particularly to countries that could never do it.
So I am all about jobs--jobs today and jobs tomorrow. That is why
what we do in transportation, housing, and urban development is also a
big step forward. In addition to looking out for the homeless, we
provide an additional amount of money for highway and road safety
programs, where people actually working with funds going to Governors
at the local level--not some shovel-ready gimmick--can identify
projects in the pipeline we could generate in construction. We can
improve public safety by smart highways. And, literally, we can help
get America rolling again; we have a fragile economy.
I could go on about this bill, but this is a general outline, and I
will talk more about it. I feel very passionate about it because we
have squeezed every nickel, we have looked at it very fastidiously to
make sure that we are right within our mandated spending cap to assess
our national priorities: national security, compelling human needs, how
we can help create jobs, look out for the middle class, and make those
investments that improve the lives of the American people and generate
jobs tomorrow.
I think we have a very good bill. I ask everyone's cooperation to get
it passed.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
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