[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 187 (Thursday, November 21, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6733-S6734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Order of Business

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture 
vote on the Brouillette nomination occur at 1:30 p.m. today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 1250

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I rise to present an amendment to this bill. 
My amendment is simple, and it reflects the kind of commonsense 
budgeting we ought to be doing in Washington. Today I offer the penny 
plan for infrastructure. This plan cuts one penny, 1 percent of all 
spending, and puts that money in a fund for infrastructure.
  My amendment would put about $12 billion per year into a fund to fix 
our roads and bridges. Every agency would still get 99 percent of the 
spending they got the previous year. Sure, they would need to trim some 
fat, but they would still be fine. A lot of businesses and 
organizations will tell you they have to cut much greater than 1 
percent a year.
  I visited a business recently that in the downturn of 2008-2009 had 
to cut 30 percent of their expenditures. Business men and women in 
America are used to having to cut expenditures; government never does.
  Whether it is our highways or our bridges or our waterways, our 
infrastructure in America is falling behind. Everyone knows it, but 
like so many things, Washington can't figure out how to fix it, how to 
find the money to fix it.
  Politicians on both sides of the aisle talk about trillion-dollar 
infrastructure plans but offer no way to pay for it. My plan is much 
more modest, doesn't increase taxes, and doesn't increase our debt. The 
penny plan for infrastructure pays for it with money we have already 
allocated.
  To be clear, we do have the money. Washington just spends it in 
inappropriate ways. Washington spends, for example, $233 million on a 
single highway in Afghanistan. We have money to pave roads in 
Afghanistan, but they will not vote to spend the money here to pave 
roads.
  The people in Afghanistan got $233 million for a road, but they 
couldn't even maintain it, so we gave them another $22 million to 
maintain the road.
  We spent $326 million to pave 2,000 kilometers of dirt roads in 
Afghanistan. We have enough money to spend over $300 million to pave 
dirt roads in Afghanistan, but we can't come up with $1 billion to help 
our infrastructure here. They were supposed to pave 2,000 kilometers; 
it turned out they only paved 159 kilometers. They paved less than 10 
percent of what they actually promised to do with the money. What is 
that equal to--$2.7 million per mile.
  It is outrageous, and it goes on year after year after year. I think 
it is time we try a new way. Just in Afghanistan, we have spent more 
than the Marshall Plan did to rebuild Europe after the devastation of 
World War II, and we are still there, spending good money after bad. So 
when people come up here and

[[Page S6734]]

say that a 1-percent cut would somehow be a disaster, we need to remind 
them that the money is there. They just have to listen to the people 
and pull the plug on this kind of crazy spending overseas.

  My amendment would move 1 percent of current spending, and it would 
put that 1 percent of the current spending bill into infrastructure.
  Supposedly, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all agree on 
infrastructure. Yet we don't allocate more money to it because we are 
too busy paving roads in Afghanistan. If we did this, it would be about 
$12 billion. It is not enough to fix everything in the country. It is a 
modest sum. This is actually a modest proposal to move over a few 
billion dollars.
  Do you know what it would do? Twelve billion dollars would pave up to 
6,200 miles of a new four-lane highway, resurface 20,000 miles of a 
four-lane highway, and 2,200 miles of a six-lane interstate. It would 
pay for multiple big-ticket infrastructure projects that are currently 
stuck without funding. In my State, they have been advocating money for 
the Brent Spence Bridge across the Ohio River since before I was 
elected--8 or 9 years of advocating for a bridge for which we can't 
find the money. We have the money. Quit paving roads in Afghanistan, 
and let's start building bridges and paving roads here.
  This amendment would improve our infrastructure, benefit our 
communities, eliminate government waste, and help our economy. By 
cutting 1 percent of the current spending, we will force all of 
government to do a better job.
  There is at least 1 percent waste. There is probably 10 percent waste 
in government. I am asking to cut 1 percent of waste. Take that money 
you cut by making government more efficient and put it into 
infrastructure.
  I encourage the Senate to consider this amendment. I think we have 
very few amendments come forward where people have a chance to vote for 
infrastructure.
  At this point, I move to concur on the House amendment to the Senate 
amendment--
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator suspend?
  Mr. PAUL. At this point, I am about ready to do that.

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