[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6117-S6118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Conference Report to H.R. 5895
Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, the conference report that we are
considering today is good news for our country. Along with providing
funding for our veterans and supporting critical energy and
infrastructure projects, it also includes $4.8 billion for the agencies
in the legislative branch.
The legislative branch portion of the conference report allocates
funding in an appropriate manner. It promotes government transparency,
as well as increasing security here at the Capitol Complex. This is
very important.
In support of good government, this agreement includes a provision
known as e-file, requiring U.S. Senate candidates to file campaign
finance reports electronically, directly with the Federal Election
Commission, as every other Federal candidate must do. Not
[[Page S6118]]
only does this provision increase transparency, it will reduce
bureaucratic inefficiency and will save about $1 million in taxpayer
dollars.
This agreement also provides $589.7 million for the Government
Accountability Office to hire additional staff to bolster oversight of
government programs and spending. Having spent most of my career in the
private sector, accountability is a good thing. There is not enough of
it here in Washington, DC. In fact, according to a report issued by the
GAO, the GAO returns $128 for every dollar invested in its budget. That
is a good example of accountability and getting results for the
American taxpayer. In fact, the resulting benefit of this oversight by
GAO was approximately $74 billion in documented savings for the
taxpayers in 2017. That is where you get the $128 return for every
dollar invested in the agency.
The Capitol Police is fully funded at the requested level of $456.3
million, allowing for the continued protection of visitors coming to
the Capitol campus every year, as well as the Members and their staff.
These are just a few highlights of the bill, which allocates
resources in a responsible way to maintain existing services, as well
as providing critical investments across the U.S. Capitol campus.
Lastly, and importantly, I want to thank Senator Chris Murphy, my
ranking member, for working with me in a bipartisan manner throughout
this process. This is my first year as chairman of the Legislative
Branch Subcommittee. I would also like to thank Chairman Shelby and
Vice Chairman Leahy for their leadership and efforts to return to
regular order on a Senate appropriations bill. This is quite
remarkable, but it shouldn't be. The bar has been set so low in
Washington, DC, that Congress can't get their appropriations bills or
spending bills passed before the end of the current fiscal year going
into next year. Well, guess what. The fiscal year ends on September 30,
and here we are on September 12, moving forward now on appropriations.
That is a good thing for our country.
I urge my colleagues to support this conference report as we continue
to move these bills forward to fund the government on time and in the
right way.
I see my distinguished colleague, Senator Murphy from Connecticut, is
here as well, and it has truly been an honor to serve with Senator
Murphy to move this forward on behalf of the American people.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, let me express my thanks in return to
Chairman Daines for being such a fantastic guide and a fantastic
partner on this subcommittee budget. I am excited to bring this to my
colleagues this morning. I will note that he took over midstream from
Senator Lankford, who began this process. I will also note that we
didn't really get moving so quickly to a conference committee until
Senator Daines took over. I give him great credit for adding so much
and being such a great partner in all of this.
I really don't need to go through all of the important initiatives
Senator Daines already did; maybe I will spend a minute doing so. I
would note that we made progress on some issues that had been stalled
in the Legislative Appropriations Subcommittee for a long time--such as
intern pay or the requirement to file campaign finance reports online--
I think because we were able to do this budget on its own, with a real
process, with a real committee debate, and with a real conference
committee. When these budgets get tied up in giant omnibus
negotiations, it tends to be that only the top four or five issues in
the omnibus get the attention from the folks in the room. These budgets
are very important, but maybe because they are a little bit smaller
than the budget for HHS or the Department of Defense, they go untended
to.
As we return to regular order, not only do I think that is a breath
of fresh air for democracy, it is not good news for anybody when the
decisions over a budget get decided behind closed doors amongst a very
small set of people appointed by the Democratic leader and the
Republican leader. It is also good government because when we do these
budgets one by one, we get to flesh out some very important and
sometimes controversial issues that we might not get to address when
they are all lumped together in a massive package.
I hope this is now the way we do things. I congratulate Senator
McConnell and Senator Shelby for setting the tone. I know there are a
couple of conference committees tomorrow on some other packages. I hope
they go as well as ours did.
In this budget, we did some very good things. We have a long list of
deferred maintenance here on this campus. We have 16.5 million square
feet of buildings. We have millions of visitors who come to experience
the U.S. Capitol. We provide $734 million for the Architect of the
Capitol to make those targeted investments.
Accountability and transparency were things Senator Daines focused on
as chairman. We will have 50 additional auditors and investigators at
the Government Accountability Office. That is the office which makes
sure that we are doing our job, that we are spending taxpayer dollars
wisely. When they issue reports, the taxpayers save money, and now they
have the ability to do more of that great work.
It also provides full funding for the Capitol Police. I want to
specifically thank Senator Daines for working with us to include in
this budget an initiative that we started here in the Senate to improve
protections and coordination for Members' security off campus, to
recognize the new and emerging threats that exist in and around
Washington, DC.
Finally--I have said it before, but I will say it again--there is a
breakthrough, a small amount of money to help compensate interns. Lives
change when they get to experience something like working for their
Member of Congress, for their Senator. It opens their eyes to a set of
experiences that would not be available to them otherwise.
Under prior practice where very few Senate offices paid for those
internship experiences, you had to be a child of means in order to get
here. Now, hopefully, with this small amount of money we are giving to
our interns, we will have a much greater pool of applicants and a much
greater pool of young men and women who will be able to be here and
work in our offices. I think that is good for this place, and I think
it is good for the kids who are going to get to experience government.
Faith in government and belief in civic participation couldn't be lower
today. Giving more kids from diverse backgrounds access to the Federal
Government is a very positive development.
Again, it has been a joy to work with Senator Daines. It is great to
be on a conference committee. I had heard rumors about conferences
committees, and we got to sit on one and hammer out a budget with our
House colleagues. I hope it sails through as we move to final debate
and passage.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.