[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5681-5704]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               FISCAL YEAR 2001 BUDGET--CONFERENCE REPORT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to the consideration of the conference report to accompany the 
concurrent resolution on the budget, which the clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the concurrent 
     resolution (H. Con. Res. 290) establishing the congressional 
     budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2001, 
     revising the congressional budget for the United States 
     Government fiscal year 2000, and setting forth appropriate 
     budgetary levels for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2005, 
     having met have agreed to recommend to their respective 
     Houses this report, signed by a majority of the conferees.

  The Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.
  (The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the 
Congressional Record of April 12, 2000.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 4 
hours of debate, as follows: 90 minutes under the control of the 
Senator from New Mexico; 90 minutes under the control of the Senator 
from New Jersey; and 1 hour under the control of Senator Reed of Rhode 
Island.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, on our side, I do not intend to yield 
back time until Republican Senators have indicated to me they do not 
want any time. I do not know why we need a full hour and a half on our 
side, and I do not know why they need a full hour and a half plus 1 
hour, which is 2\1/2\ hours on their side.
  I yield myself time off my hour and a half.

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  I noted a minute ago that present on the floor was Senator Snowe. 
While I wish to discuss a number of issues, I want to say to her, and 
to those who supported her, that because of her diligence, this budget 
resolution has a reserve fund of $40 billion to be used for Medicare 
prescription drugs and Medicare reform.
  Frankly, I note that the House, at least on the majority side, is 
already discussing what they would do. Clearly, this $40 billion will 
go to the Finance Committee of the Senate because Senator Snowe, 
Senator Wyden, and Senator Smith in the committee worked very hard to 
get it done. I will say what has changed so I will not, in any way, 
overstate the case as to what Senator Wyden did.
  But essentially because of Olympia Snowe's dedication, we put $40 
billion in a reserve fund. That means the Finance Committee can go to 
work on a bill, and the money is waiting for them to do a bill that 
meets the mandates or the qualifications of this reserve fund. We have, 
as she requested, up to $20 billion for prescription drugs and up to 
$20 billion for reforming the system so that it will do a better job 
and a more efficient job while we are adding some new benefits.
  I think everybody who has looked at it thinks that is what we ought 
the do.
  In committee, there was a mandatory date by which this had to be 
done. In conference with the House, that was refused. So we won half 
the battle. We got the $20 billion and the $20 billion, as I have 
described, which is $40 billion, but we did not get the mandatory date. 
We are going to have to rely upon the impetus that will accrue over the 
ensuing days because of the House action and the desire of this body to 
have our Finance Committee produce a bill. I have every confidence that 
they will.
  Having said that, I yield myself about 10 minutes to describe where 
we are.
  If, in fact, we adopt this budget resolution this evening, I say we 
are getting better all the time at getting our job done. The occupant 
of the Chair will be pleased to know we have had a Budget Act for a 
long time, since 1974. For all those years, if we produce this budget 
tonight, we will have produced three budget resolutions on time. That 
means April 15 had come and gone most years, and we could not get our 
job done because it was so contentious and so difficult. It will mean 
that 2 years in a row--last year and this year--for the first time in 
history, we adopted a budget resolution on time, by April 15.
  That speaks for itself. It means, however, that we can get started on 
the work that must be done to implement this work. We can get started 
sooner, earlier. With the hard work that is going to be done 
predominantly by the Appropriations Committees, and the Finance 
Committee in our body, we may very well get most of our work done in a 
very timely manner and be able to leave here before our respective 
conventions with the people's business having been accomplished.
  I think that would be a pretty good achievement. I will agree that it 
has been a very hard job. I will also indicate openly, it was very 
difficult for me. This work is about as difficult as any I have done in 
getting something accomplished. Again, it is partisan. We produced it 
with Republican votes. That is the way it normally is on a budget 
resolution. Then we will proceed to try to implement it. We will do our 
best.
  Let me summarize, so everybody will know what this resolution does. 
Then, in due course, we can hear from the other side as to what they 
think it does not do and what they would like to do.
  But I say to the Senate, I have seen an atmosphere that indicates the 
theory which I adopted--starting last year when we had a big surplus--
that we better take a little bit of this money and allocate it to the 
taxpayers is resonating every day, with more and more assurance that if 
we do not, there will not be any surplus.
  I know the occupant of the chair is a fiscally responsible person. He 
has his ideas. I see new bills being proposed because, indeed, we have 
a surplus. People have not done anything for 40 or 50 years, and they 
are introducing a bill that would cost anywhere from $2 to $5 billion, 
and all of a sudden it becomes expedient that we do it, and we must do 
it now.
  We hear about all kinds of new bills that are now big-need items in 
America. Let me suggest, for those who say it is too early to have tax 
relief, if we do not do it pretty soon, there will be no surplus left 
for the taxpayer.
  Our budget resolution says: If you can, Senate and House, produce 
some tax relief. It says if you cannot, all that money, over 5 years, 
goes to the debt, I say to my good friend, Senator Gorton.
  But let me suggest that we are right; we ought to put in money to 
have some tax relief. I will give you the paramount reason for that. On 
this floor, immediately prior to the consideration of this budget 
resolution conference report, what were we discussing? We were 
discussing the marriage tax penalty reform--meaning married couples in 
America, including the couples married this year, when they file that 
April 15 tax return early next week, they are going to be penalized, on 
average, $1,400 because they are married.
  Why should we wait around for another decade, when there are the kind 
of surpluses we have seen in this budget resolution, to provide tax 
relief for the American people?
  The Democrats have been arguing: The Republicans are going to enhance 
the rich of America with their tax bill. They are going to use this 
relief and give it all to the rich people.
  It should come as no surprise that 50 percent of the tax relief we 
are talking about--$64 billion; almost 50 percent--is going to go to 
cure the marriage tax penalty. There may be some who will get up and 
say that is helping the rich. But I am saying, it is something most 
Americans do not believe is American law. Most Americans say: Are you 
kidding? Are we punishing two people who are married, who work, who 
file joint returns? The answer is yes, and we want to fix it.
  For those who say wait until we fix Social Security, wait until we 
fix Medicare, wait until we fund all these programs we now see as 
desperately needed, wait until we fund the President's programs--I say 
to Senator Gorton, that is a 14-percent increase in domestic spending--
just fund it, there will not be any money for Social Security. If you 
do that 3 years in a row, there is no money for tax relief, and you are 
using the Social Security surplus, which is for 3 years of domestic 
funding at the level of the President.
  So what is risky? They say it is risky to have marriage tax penalty 
relief provided for in this bill. I say it is not risky; it is 
absolutely necessary. It is urgent.
  America must show we are concerned about married couples. There is a 
very longstanding belief in America and in the world, that we ought to 
try to promote family life, if we can, and married couples trying to 
struggle through it.
  It is not too early. It is the right time. But if we do not do it, I 
can see it coming between all the new needs that are going to be 
prescribed for this budget that we have not done in the past, that we 
are going to have to add to this huge Federal expenditure called the 
budget, and there will be nothing for marriage tax penalty relief or 
any kind of tax relief.
  So once again, this budget says, over 5 years, $150 billion can be 
used in tax relief. Right off the bat, when somebody on the other side 
says it is for the rich, I want everybody to understand almost half of 
it is for the marriage tax penalty reform. Second, we don't touch a 
nickel of Social Security. We have Senator Abraham's part of this 
resolution which for the next year says the lockbox applies and makes 
it part of the budget resolution that you need 60 votes to touch or use 
the Social Security surplus. Then to make it even more logical, we put 
$170 billion against the public debt this year, the biggest installment 
on the debt in the history of the Republic, $1 trillion over the next 5 
years. This is an enormous payment on the debt. Nothing similar was 
ever assumed 5 years ago or 10 years ago or, I imagine, for the last 
three or four decades.

[[Page 5683]]

  In addition, because of Senator Snowe's initiative, we provide $40 
billion on Medicare and prescription drugs.
  On the tax relief--just to show the equity of it all--we put $170 
billion on the debt, and we have $13 billion in tax relief in the first 
year, between 12 and 13. The ratio is about 12 to 1, almost 13 to 1 of 
debt reduction versus tax relief. Over the 5 years, it is about 8 to 1 
in debt reduction versus tax relief. That is pretty good fairness, 
since we are talking about tax fairness in this budget resolution.
  All spending will increase $212 billion over the next 5 years. That 
includes the $40 billion for prescription drugs. There will be NIH, 
science, funds for military, funds for health, funds for military 
retirees, veterans and other high-priority items.
  Frankly, I hope we pass this resolution and proceed to prove we tried 
to try to do this. We think this is the right budget for our time. If 
we don't hold down spending, except for high-priority items such as 
defense, education, science, NIH and the like, then the married couples 
of America can say goodbye to any tax relief as it might affect them 
and make their commitment to the institution of marriage and family 
life a little less difficult. After we have done marriage tax penalty 
relief, we will do something on the tax side for small business, which 
is the cornerstone of our great success in the last 6 years. We will 
talk about that later.
  With that, unless one of my Republican Senators wants part of my 
time, I yield the floor and reserve the remainder of my time. I thank 
the Senate for its attention.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, this is the last budget resolution on 
which I will be working. It has been quite an interesting exercise.
  I start off by saying that I hope and believe firmly the goodwill 
that exists with the chairman of the Budget Committee and myself will 
not evaporate as we discuss this budget. We are good friends, and we 
have been good partners in debate and discussion. We disagree on the 
conclusions. That means no disrespect flowing either way, and I am sure 
I speak for Senator Domenici. It is with esteem and--I use the term 
carefully--affection that we have worked together.
  Now that we have said the good things, we will get on to the others; 
that is, I firmly believe this is the wrong budget resolution at the 
wrong time because we are still in the position that, with rare 
exception, we have almost no bipartisan agreement. I heard Senator 
Domenici describe the former occupant of the chair as fiscally 
responsible. I assume that ``fiscally responsible'' is kind of a 
catchall for the side of the aisle that one is on; that others on this 
side may appear to be fiscally irresponsible.
  We can't buy that. We have a difference of view. The difference of 
view is clearly marked in this budget resolution. What should we do to 
use the funds we have available on behalf of the American public? 
Should we focus on those whose incomes are at the middle or the lower 
end of the scale or should we give the tax breaks primarily to the 
wealthy of the country? It clearly reflects the values and priorities 
we each have.
  This budget conference report calls for costly and risky tax breaks 
that would, contrary to the statements made, raid Social Security 
surpluses. It proposes deep cuts in domestic programs such as education 
and health care and law enforcement and veterans' benefits and 
environmental protection. It fails to ensure that seniors will be 
provided with a meaningful prescription drug benefit. It talks about 
it, but it doesn't arrange for it to happen. On debt reduction--the 
Holy Grail that Chairman Greenspan held out as being the cardinal first 
step, the principle by which we operate in terms of maintaining our 
fiscal responsibility, paying down the debt--this fails to pay down the 
debt as much as we can. It fails to make it a priority. It hides the 
long-term cost of its tax breaks and it puts our economy at risk by 
weakening our commitment to fiscal discipline.
  To understand my contention that the tax breaks in this conference 
report would raid Social Security, I will take a quick look at the 
numbers.
  The Congressional Budget Office, CBO, says that over the next 5 
years, the non-Social Security surplus will be $171 billion. We don't 
dispute that. The sides have not argued on that count. This assumes 
that Congress freezes discretionary spending at current real levels. 
``Current real levels'' means adjusting only for inflation. In fact, if 
Congress increases domestic spending at the same rate as it has done in 
recent years, which has been greater than inflation, the actual surplus 
would be substantially smaller. Still, to give the majority the benefit 
of the doubt, let's ignore history for a moment and optimistically 
assume that the non-Social Security surplus will be $171 billion. The 
conference report--that report which was debated and agreed upon 
between the House and the Senate, their budgeteers, our budgeteers, and 
finally both bodies, they have already passed this so we are being 
asked to pass it--calls for tax breaks of $175 billion. Now, that is in 
the face of a $171 billion non-Social Security surplus.
  This reduction in future surpluses also would require the Government 
to pay about $21 billion more in interest payments because we would 
have more debt. Thus, the real cost of the tax breaks isn't $175 
billion; it is $196 billion, $25 billion more than the entire non-
Social Security surplus of $171 billion. In clear words, this budget 
would raid Social Security of $25 billion.
  Now, if the tax breaks use the entire non-Social Security surplus, 
plus $25 billion of the Social Security surplus, how can the conference 
report also provide funding for any of the new initiatives it claims, 
such as increases in military spending, prescription drug coverage, and 
agriculture, to name just a few high-priority items?
  The real answer is, it just can't be done. The numbers don't add up. 
Unfortunately, the majority seeks to sidestep this problem by assuming 
huge, unspecified cuts in domestic programs. The resolution calls for a 
7.5-percent cut in nondefense discretionary programs over the next 5 
years. The cut would be, in the fifth year, 9.8 percent. In fact, since 
the majority claimed it would protect some specific programs, the cuts 
in other areas would be substantially higher.
  We only received a single copy of the conference report last night at 
about 10 o'clock. So we haven't had the time to fully analyze the 
impact of cuts such as this. But these cuts are even more dramatic than 
the cuts proposed in the Senate version of the legislation, which were 
8.2 percent in the fifth year. That was the Senate version of the 
legislation, before it merged with the House in the conference report 
we are examining now.
  Here are some of the examples of the impact of the less severe Senate 
cuts--once again, the bill we sent over to merge with the House--as 
estimated by the Office of Management and Budget. We would have 20,000 
new teachers not being able to be hired to reduce class size; 5,000 
communities would lose assistance to help construct and modernize their 
schools; 62,000 fewer children would be served by the Head Start 
Program, which is a very successful program that says early education 
helps kids prepare to learn. We find that is necessary in our society. 
Then, there would be 19,000 fewer researchers, educators, and students 
who would receive support from the National Science Foundation. They do 
the research that talks about climate variations. We all see what the 
impending disasters might be like, such as tornadoes and other 
windstorms with higher and higher velocities and more frequency. And 
funding for all new federally led cleanup of toxic waste sites would be 
eliminated. Nine-hundred fewer FBI agents could be retained.
  I wonder how the public feels about 900 fewer FBI agents--when we are 
looking not only at reduced rates of criminality, but also 
understanding what the need might be; that includes domestic terrorism, 
it includes fraud, and it includes all kinds of things for

[[Page 5684]]

which we know the FBI has responsibility. We are going to work with 900 
fewer FBI agents?
  There would be 430 fewer Border Patrol agents available to safeguard 
our borders. Well, there isn't anybody I have talked to who thinks we 
need less protection on our borders.
  The list goes on. The actual cuts will be even deeper than those 
suggested since the conference report calls for substantially deeper 
cuts than the Senate-passed version of the budget resolution.
  As most people around here recognize, cuts of this magnitude are just 
completely unrealistic. They are not going to happen. Neither 
Republicans nor Democrats are going to tolerate them. It is kind of 
putting it off in the future. It may get us through an election cycle, 
but reality will come home and we will not be able to stand these cuts.
  This is not the first time the Senate has assumed deep, unspecified 
cuts in the budget resolution. Last year's resolution included 
similarly unrealistic assumptions. Not surprisingly, by the end of the 
year, the Republican majority of Congress had approved appropriations 
bills that spent about $35 billion more than it assumed earlier. No 
doubt something similar is going to happen this year.
  Unfortunately, the Republican budget relies on these unrealistic cuts 
for its tax breaks and its various increases in mandatory spending.
  Just to explain, mandatory spending is funding those programs that 
are decided by the legislature, the Congress--that these programs get a 
high priority. We recently voted $2 billion more for the FAA--not that 
people disagree with the need for improving FAA's operations, but the 
fact is, it is mandatory. That means it gets priority, and no matter 
what happens behind it, the increases in FAA take place. Well, it has 
to come from someplace. It can come from transportation, from the Coast 
Guard, with all of the services they provide, or it can come from other 
sensitive places. The cost of that spending and the new tax breaks will 
be locked in up front. The savings, however, will.
  When Congress later fails to make the assumed cuts in appropriations 
bills, funds for the tax breaks and for new spending will require 
deeper raids on Social Security. We should not let that fact escape. We 
want everybody to think about it. We want the Congressmen and the 
Senators who are going home and looking toward reelection to be able to 
explain to their constituents about how we had to dip into Social 
Security a little bit, even though everybody basically swore on the 
sword it would not happen. But it has to happen if this budget is going 
to stand.
  One might think the assumption of deep, unrealistic cuts in 
discretionary spending would allow the Republicans to claim 
significantly more debt reduction than the budget proposed by 
Democrats. However, if one assumes GOP spending cuts actually 
materialize, which is highly unlikely, the Republican budget would 
still reduce much less debt than President Clinton and the Senate 
Democrats. The Republican plan claimed to use non-Social Security 
surpluses to reduce only about $12 billion of debt over 5 years. By 
contrast, the President's budget would reduce $90 billion of debt over 
that same period--more than seven times as much. So it is $90 billion 
under the President's budget and $12 billion in the Republican budget. 
This difference in debt reduction helps to show just how extreme the 
GOP tax breaks really are.
  Throughout the debate on the resolution, the Republicans have claimed 
that their budget contains over a trillion dollars of debt reduction. 
However, this figure is based almost entirely on Social Security 
surpluses. These surpluses are called off-budget, and both parties are 
committed to protecting them. Yet when it comes to the portion of the 
budget that remains subject to congressional discretion, Republicans 
have refused to devote significant resources for debt reduction. In 
doing so, they have rejected repeated calls by Federal Reserve Chairman 
Alan Greenspan to make debt reduction our first priority.
  My next concern about the budget resolution is that it fails to 
ensure that Congress will really act on legislation establishing a 
prescription drug benefit--another program that is saluted, generally. 
But it is not real. This is in marked contrast to treatment of the tax 
breaks. Tax breaks have an instruction to the Finance Committee that 
they must report out a way to get tax breaks. They have to do it. There 
is quite a distinction between saying we should and they have to. The 
conference report includes two $20 billion reserve funds that, 
theoretically, could be used for prescription drugs, but there is no 
requirement for the Senate to act. It is very unspecific.
  The second reserve fund contains vague language that would allow 
virtually the entire $20 billion to be used for purposes other than 
prescription drugs. That could leave little more than $20 billion for 
prescription drugs, which is far short of what is needed to provide an 
adequate benefit. The Medicare reserve fund, applicable to the House, 
would allow virtually the entire $40 billion fund to be diverted to 
purposes other than prescription drugs.
  While they say we have to have it, they don't arrange for the 
mechanism to make it happen.
  Compounding matters, Mr. President, the language of the second Senate 
reserve fund requires that the solvency of the Medicare Program be 
extended before a single penny can be used either for any prescription 
drug benefit, or new provider payments. In other words, if you want 
access to this money to help seniors with prescriptions, you have to 
cut somewhere else within Medicare first. And that seems very unlikely 
to happen.
  Mr. President, there is only one conclusion to draw from all this: 
the Republican Party simply is not committed to providing our seniors 
with prescription drugs. The senior population has to listen to that. 
For the Republican Party, tax breaks for the wealthy are a much higher 
priority.
  Mr. President, my final concern about the conference report is that 
it covers only 5 years, not the 10 included in last year's resolution.
  People might say: Well, what is the difference between 5 or 10? It 
matters a lot because a tax break has an effect of compounding 
significantly in the second quintile. It is going to grow by leaps and 
bounds.
  This has the effect of hiding the long-term cost of its tax breaks. 
It also weakens the budget resolution as a means of enforcing long-term 
fiscal discipline, since points of order would not be available against 
tax breaks that explode in cost after 5 years.
  Mr. President, as of last year, CBO has been producing 10-year 
numbers. There's no excuse for Congress not doing the same. And if we 
were serious about preparing for the baby boomers' retirement, we would 
be sure to plan for longer term costs.
  In sum, Mr. President, the Republican majority has made tax breaks 
that go largely to the wealthy their highest priority. Higher than 
Social Security. Higher than education. Higher than prescription drugs 
for our seniors. Higher than reducing our debt. This is unacceptable. 
And higher than maintaining fiscal discipline.
  In so doing, they have produced a budget that is fundamentally at 
odds with the priorities and values of the American people. A budget 
that puts our economy at risk. And a budget that fails to prepare for 
our future.
  Just to confirm something I earlier said, the budget resolution, as 
it came out of the Senate, says the Senate Committee on Finance shall 
report to the Senate a reconciliation bill. That means they must do it. 
That is the only place we have any force of law in the Budget 
Committee. Otherwise, ours is generally a guideline or blueprint for 
how the Congress should act, putting a ceiling on total spending. It is 
up to the Appropriations Committee to divide that spending. They say 
this reconciliation bill shall be done not later than July 14 in the 
year 2000, and not later than September 13 in the year 2000. So they 
have 2 days. That is a realistic assignment for the Finance Committee.
  There is no such thing for prescription drugs. The Republicans are 
not

[[Page 5685]]

asking that we treat prescription drugs with the same force and the 
same outcome as we do the tax breaks.
  One thing is apparent. One thing is very clear. They are going to 
protect the tax breaks no matter who they have to take the money from 
to make it happen--no matter what program they are going to take the 
money from to make it happen; no matter what it does to the budget and 
its balance; no matter what it does to debt reduction; no matter what. 
The primary thing is tax reduction and tax breaks for the wealthy. If 
you make $800,000, which is kind of the median figure for the top 1 
percent, you might get a $50,000 tax cut, if plans go as they are. But 
if you make $35,000, you could be looking at $1 a week, or maybe even 
$2, if things go right.
  We have to make decisions. There is no room for amendments. There is 
no room for change. This has been decided. The majority decided. The 
majority will have to carry it because I predict that there is going to 
be little, if any, support from Democrats. We don't believe it is 
fiscally responsible. We don't think it is fair. We don't think it is 
equitable. We don't think the wealthy ought to be the largest 
beneficiary of the outcome.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I wonder if the distinguished ranking 
minority member would agree with me on a request. Senator Gorton is 
going to preside at 4 o'clock. He wonders, if he arrives on the floor 4 
or 5 minutes before having to preside, if he could speak on my time for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. I have no objection assuming that we don't interrupt 
right in the middle. We will do our best to provide for Senator Gorton.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I thank the Senator.
  Mr. President, I yield myself 5 minutes in rebuttal. Then I will be 
glad to yield time to the distinguished Senator from New Jersey.
  First, let me explain what we have done on Medicare.
  Before any tax relief is provided in terms of dollar numbers, we have 
already used $40 billion of the non-Social Security surplus for 
Medicare. That is waiting for the committee, at which time it is 
assigned to them. We are not gambling. We are saying that is it. As a 
matter of fact, we are saying if you do not do it, it goes to the debt.
  What do we provide with the $40 billion? There is a little, tiny bit 
of difference between the way we and others see it. And we think there 
will be a majority for this view when the bill finally gets considered. 
We say there is $40 billion. We say if you do no reform of the program, 
there is $20 billion. Let me repeat that. If you do no reform, there is 
$20 billion for prescription drugs. If you do some reform to stabilize 
the program, you can use the whole $40 billion for prescription drugs.
  That is what Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine had as the underpinnings 
of her approach. She wanted some reform. But she wanted to make sure, 
even if we could not do that, we started a prescription drug program 
with $20 billion.
  If the committee does something like the Breaux-Frist--that is a 
bipartisan approach--with some reform in Medicare, you understand the 
Medicare program will be insolvent in about 13 years. I don't think 
seniors want us to add a benefit that will make it run out of money 
sooner. I think they would be asking us to see if we could fix it and 
make it more responsive, more modern, to give them more money for 
prescription drugs.
  Let me repeat that we are not taking this money from anyone. It is 
aside and apart from the tax relief we are asking for, such as the 
marriage tax penalty reform that the other side has been delaying here 
on the floor.
  We are saying $40 billion is set for Medicare, and it has two 
purposes. If you do not reform and make the program more modern so it 
has a chance of surviving longer, you can use $20 billion of it. It 
says so in the resolution for prescription drugs. But if you do 
something such as the Breaux-Frist reform, which is fixing the program, 
you can use the $40 billion of new money for prescription drugs.
  Frankly, I think it is a responsible way to handle a very difficult 
problem because if you do not ask for some reform to get the full $40 
billion, we are going to have $40 billion, and the program next year is 
not going to be any better off. Then seniors are going to ask: Now what 
happens? We have prescription drugs, but we are still not going to have 
any money to pay our regular bills in about 13 years.
  I think we are pushing both at the same time.
  Let me make my last observation with reference to the difference 
between the two parties.
  All of them are going to vote against this. It really says you cannot 
pass the marriage tax penalty which is going to cost the Treasury about 
$64 billion over 5 years in the name of fairness to married couples. 
You can't pass that, they say, until you have done all of these other 
things that Government wants done for the Government. And there will 
never be a time when we are going to have a surplus to give to the 
hard-working people of this country, in particular, relief items such 
as the marriage tax penalty. There is not going to be any money around. 
Don't kid anyone. There is a very big difference.
  I ask that you take a visual inventory with me about the 
announcements of late by the administration, the Secretary of Energy, 
and many others: We have new programs on which we have to spend money. 
It isn't enough that the President already provided a 14-percent 
increase in domestic discretionary. There are all the new needs.
  What money will they use for the ``pay fors''? Does anybody have any 
idea? Is the money coming from heaven? New manna in the desert? Of 
course not. It will be the surplus we think ought to go back to the 
taxpayer in the form of tax relief after we spent money to increase 
government.
  We have money to increase government, but how much is enough? I think 
there is enough money available to leave a little bit. I rechecked my 
notes, and the tax relief in this first year is $11.6 billion; the debt 
reduction is $170 billion. How can anyone say we are not reducing the 
debt when that is the largest payment on the national debt in the 
history of the Republic? This resolution says: Don't touch Social 
Security. You will reduce it by $1 trillion--hardly a number we can 
understand--and still have a little bit left over for such things as 
tax relief for married couples in America.
  That is the big difference. They want to wait, we don't know how 
long, but perhaps until we solve every problem we have in government 
with reference to Medicare and everything else. Don't give the taxpayer 
back even this little tiny amount.
  I hope the Republicans will support this. I am very proud of the 
difference.
  They would not have put more than $40 billion in for Medicare if they 
were producing their own resolution. That is about the right number on 
which they could get consensus on their side of the aisle. They would 
not put 50 or 60 or 80. If you put 40 in, there is money left over for 
the taxpayer. That is the truth of the budget resolution.
  There will be a historic debate on education reform in a couple of 
weeks. I am very pleased to know we have probably had something to do 
with precipitating that reform debate. There is enough money to 
increase education. It is obvious to this Senator the Republicans are 
not going to go for an increase in education money if it is status quo 
for education, if we are going to do more of the same, because more of 
the same isn't good enough. We need to do something very different in 
education and spend more money doing it. We are going to have an 
opportunity to have that discussed.
  This conference report assumes $45.6 billion in 2001 for the 
Department of Education. That is overall, for everything--a $10 billion 
increase. Not exactly for what the President wants but overall in this 
function. That is what is provided.
  This is an election year. The administration and Secretary Richardson 
have the latest idea to take care of anyone who worked in a nuclear 
facility over the last 50 or 60 years. I know they are good sounding 
bills, but it is also an election year.

[[Page 5686]]

  I say to the taxpayer and to married couples of America, beware of an 
election year. In this country, an election year means they want to 
spend all your money and try to convince you that is right, leaving 
nothing to repair problems in tax law such as the marriage tax penalty. 
Beware. They will have more spending programs than you ever heard of, 
including a 14-percent increase in domestic discretionary spending by 
the President in his budget in an election year.
  The Republicans say: We want a change; we don't want the huge add-ons 
to government. We think in the scheme of things, over the next 5 years, 
the taxpayer ought to get a little bit of relief.
  That is the difference in the two bills. I think it is a good 
difference. When they say rich people are going to get the benefit of 
the tax relief on the marriage tax penalty, that is unfair. We want to 
fix it. How many want to do that? We win that. We have to use some of 
the surplus to pay for that kind of reform. That money doesn't grow on 
trees. That money has to come out of the coffers of the United States. 
It doesn't belong to the Government.
  I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to Senator Gorton, and then I yield 
back to the Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. I appeal to my friends on the Democrat side, as well 
as others, we only have a total of 3 hours, plus an hour that Senator 
Reed has, for Members to talk. Members need to be prepared to come to 
the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, there are, in my view, two remarkable 
aspects to the budget resolution conference report before the Senate 
this afternoon.
  The first is, I believe for only the third or fourth time since the 
Budget Act was passed, the promptness with which the Senate is dealing 
on a final basis with a budget resolution that is the springboard from 
which we will do the substantive work of the appropriations for the 
balance of this year. For that promptness, for the efficiency with 
which the Senate has dealt with this issue, we owe our deepest and 
sincerest thanks not only to the chairman of the committee, my friend, 
Pete Domenici, but to the staff who have labored so long and so hard on 
a highly technical and complicated task.
  More significant perhaps than the significance of finishing our work 
on time is the substantive nature of this budget resolution. It is 
exquisitely balanced among three separate needs: The need to adequately 
fund those programs that are already major responsibilities of the 
Federal Government; the need to provide for additional programs of 
considerable interest, the most significant of which being the Medicare 
program about which Senator Domenici spoke earlier, but also including 
priorities with respect to education--particularly close to my heart--
and to our national defense.
  The second substantive element of this budget resolution is the 
dramatic reduction in the national debt it will cause. It is only a 
short period of time since we were discussing how we could reduce 
annual national deficits of upwards of a quarter a trillion a year. Now 
we face the equally difficult but far more pleasant prospect of paying 
off the national debt at a very substantial rate.
  The third element in this budget resolution is the opportunity to 
provide tax relief for hard-working Americans who pay taxes. The 
chairman of the committee, Senator Domenici, pointed out the importance 
of the bill, which regrettably was subjected to a filibuster earlier 
today, to end the unconscionable penalty against married Americans, 
both of whom are at work. The thought that a couple in love, even in 
relatively modest professions, should pay a penalty for getting married 
rather than receiving the approbation of society for doing so is 
bizarre. To have the ability to provide for that marriage tax penalty 
relief, amounting, as the chairman pointed out, to almost half of the 
allowed tax relief in the bill, is a vitally important part of this 
budget resolution.
  As the chairman himself pointed out, if for some reason we cannot 
pass tax relief, or if for some reason we pass a tax relief bill that 
is vetoed by the President, then that money should go to further pay 
down the national debt. Regrettably, many of the Members on the other 
side, as evidenced by their actions just a week ago when we were 
debating this issue on the floor of the Senate, would prefer to spend 
it. I suspect if we added up the expenditures contained in all of their 
unsuccessful amendments, we not only would have spent the entire 
general fund surplus, but we would have once again eaten into the 
Social Security surplus as well.
  In summary, we have a budget resolution that allows us adequately to 
fund the functions of government. It allows us to meet some new needs 
and desires of the American people. It allows us modest but still 
significant room for tax relief. It makes dramatic payments on the 
national debt.
  For each and every one of those reasons, we not only owe our thanks 
to the chairman of the Budget Committee and to his staff, I believe we 
owe our votes in favor of the resolution.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gorton). Who yields time? The Senator from 
Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I request to be recognized out of my time 
under the unanimous consent agreement.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is so recognized.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, we are spending a few moments discussing the 
budget. There are obvious differences on both sides with respect to 
this budget. I commend the chairman, Senator Domenici, and the ranking 
member, Senator Lautenberg, for their efforts over many months to 
fashion a budget and bring it to us.
  My focal point is not on the vote that is forthcoming; it is on the 
vote we just concluded with respect to adjournment. In many respects, I 
share the overall sentiments of the Senator from West Virginia that it 
is about time we get down to work and business, and if we need to take 
time to consider the marriage tax penalty and other provisions, we 
should do that, rather than arbitrarily and conveniently walking away.
  The concern I have goes to another critical issue, and that is the 
issue of our inability over many months to bring to this floor a 
conference report on the juvenile justice bill which includes sensible 
gun safety measures we all adopted in the wake of the Columbine 
tragedy.
  The first-year anniversary of that tragedy is just 7 days away, and 
we will not be in Washington working on this issue; we will be 
scattered around the country. I believe--and that is why I joined many 
of my colleagues voting against adjournment--that we should be here 
working rather than off about the country on April 20 saying, I am 
sure, thoughtful and pious comments about our outrage at what happened 
at Columbine High School and the need to do something. We should be 
here instead doing something, and our departure should be tempered with 
the realization that we have for months foregone effective action to 
provide sensible gun safety rules in this country.
  We all were shocked last April 20 by the carnage and horror at 
Columbine High School. Within a month, in May, we passed extremely 
sensible provisions as part of the juvenile justice bill to provide for 
child safety locks, to close the gun show loophole, ban the importation 
of large-capacity ammunition clips for automatic weapons, and many 
other provisions. Yet all of our efforts have languished for months. In 
fact, the conference committee met just one time in August in a 
perfunctory meeting, and since that time, it has not even come together 
to consider these difficult issues and to seek a compromise resolution 
so we can send this measure to the President to become law.
  We are leaving today with our work undone. I had hoped we could have 
stayed. I had hoped we could have worked harder and more efficiently so 
that we could, in fact, have a conference report with gun control 
measures that would be sent to the President for his signature.

[[Page 5687]]

  The Columbine tragedy is just one aspect of a pervasive climate of 
gun violence in this country that claims 12 children a day. We have to 
take effective steps to prevent that tidal wave of gun violence.
  I note the other body, responding to the pressure of public opinion 
and the sensible nature of the provisions we are talking about, moved 
last Tuesday to enact legislation that provides enhanced penalties, 
mandatory minimum sentences on any person who uses a gun while 
committing a crime of violence or is involved in serious drug 
trafficking offenses.
  No one is going to argue about the need for strong enforcement and 
stiff penalties, but enforcement without adequate, sensible, 
comprehensible laws misses the point. We have to do both. Indeed, we 
insist both be done.
  My colleague, Senator Durbin of Illinois, has been very forceful in 
trying to, within the context of this budget, enhance the resources 
devoted to the enforcement of our gun laws. He has met opposition. That 
opposition, I believe, should fade. We can and must do both: Prevent 
gun violence by good, sound, commonsense laws, and enforce those laws 
so we further add to the prevention of violence in our community.
  One other aspect of this enforcement issue is the simple fact that we 
cannot enforce loopholes. We have to have legislation that is sensible, 
practical, and works. We found, particularly in the case of the gun 
show legislation, that the current regime just does not work. Senator 
Lautenberg's amendment on the juvenile justice bill will effectively 
close that loophole and give our authorities credible and effective 
means to prevent easy access to firearms by those individuals who are 
prohibited, either through criminal records or a history of mental 
instability.
  There are other aspects within the bill that are so clearly and 
obviously necessary and, indeed, noncontroversial. In poll after poll, 
89 percent of Americans support child safety locks, support the notion 
that these safety locks should be sold with a weapon and, indeed, 
should be incorporated in the design of a new weapon. The State of 
Maryland last week, in a very courageous legislative act, passed 
legislation that will do just this.
  The need is quite clear. For children under the age of 15, the rate 
of accidental gun deaths in America is nine times higher than the rate 
of 25 other industrial countries combined. Often, I believe, there is a 
misperception about the nature of gun violence in this country; that it 
is the result of hoodlums attacking innocent citizens, victimizing them 
with handguns, when, in fact, there is an extraordinary number of 
children who are killed accidentally. Here, certainly, is a situation 
where a child safety lock can and should make a difference.
  There is another aspect of gun violence in America and, again, it is 
not the gangs with guns attacking innocent citizens. It is the fact 
that guns are frequently used in suicides. For young children under 15, 
suicide deaths from guns are 11 times higher than that of the other 25 
industrial nations combined. In fact, 54 percent of all firearms-
related deaths in 1996 were suicides. Once again, a child safety lock 
might have helped, might have deterred for a moment a child or even an 
adult who was so desperate, so distraught that they contemplated and, 
sadly, acted out a death wish.
  These statistics alone warrant the legislation--in fact, demand the 
legislation. There is a wealth of research that suggests the likelihood 
of suicide among adolescents increases by the ease of access to 
firearms--suicide by firearms.
  According to the National Journal, one study last year found that 
three-fourths of adolescents who use a gun to commit suicide obtain the 
gun from the family home.
  The Injury Control Research Center at the Harvard School of Public 
Health found in a 1999 survey that 20 percent of gun owners stored 
their guns loaded and unlocked. This is a situation, again, that cries 
out for sensible control of weapons to prevent these tragic and 
unnecessary deaths.
  There is a national survey--the largest ever conducted--on gun 
storage by the American Journal of Public Health which found that more 
than 22 million children in the United States live in homes with 
firearms; and in 43 percent of those homes, the guns are not locked up 
or fitted with trigger locks.
  Simply by the adoption of a national requirement to have trigger 
locks on weapons, we cannot ensure that each and every gun will be 
locked up and secured. But certainly, we will have a much higher 
percentage of those weapons that are secured if we pass legislation of 
this kind.
  If we require a safety lock to be provided when a gun is sold, if we 
give parents and adults who buy these weapons not only the incentive 
but the actual lock, we can, I hope and expect, reduce these types of 
deaths among children.
  In fact, we probably should be doing more because there are many 
States that have child access prevention laws--or CAP laws as they are 
called--which encourage the safe storage of firearms by holding adults 
accountable if they knowingly keep a firearm within their home where a 
child might have access to it and that child, in fact, obtains the 
weapon and uses it to harm themselves or to harm others. Senator Durbin 
has such a bill. I am proud to be a cosponsor of that legislation. This 
legislation is working.
  A 1997 article published in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association analyzed the effect of CAP laws in 12 States. The JAMA 
study found that, on average, there was a 23-percent drop in accidental 
firearm-related deaths among children younger than 15 years old.
  There has been an overall downward trend in unintentional shootings 
in the United States since 1979. That is encouraging. But indeed, we 
saw a much steeper decline in those States that had child access 
prevention laws.
  But if we are not yet ready to consider a child access prevention 
law, the least we can do, the minimum we can do, is follow through on 
our vote of last May and ensure the conference committee sends to us 
quickly the child safety lock legislation that we passed.
  There is another important part of the legislation that is pending in 
the conference committee, and that is the legislation that was 
sponsored and championed by Senator Lautenberg with respect to the gun 
show loophole. This particularly resonates at this moment when we are 
days away from the Columbine tragedy, because, in fact, three of the 
weapons used in the Columbine tragedy were bought at gun shows from 
unlicensed dealers who did not have to perform background checks.
  The two killers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, along with an older 
woman friend, Robyn Anderson, went to a gun show and obtained these 
weapons. In fact, it is reported that both Harris and Klebold went from 
table to table, from booth to booth, trying to find an unlicensed 
dealer, knowing they would not be subjected to a background check.
  In fact, Robyn Anderson herself testified before the Colorado 
Legislature that she would not have helped these young men if she knew 
she had to face a background check.
  What more compelling evidence can we have of the need and the effects 
of this legislation than the reality of the tragedy at Columbine High 
School?
  There has been a lot of talk by the gun proponents that a 72-hour 
waiting period is involved in this amendment. It is not the case at 
all. There is not a waiting period. What it requires, though, is that 
the law enforcement authority would have 72 hours to fully conduct the 
background check. The gun lobby and their allies say that would 
completely undermine gun shows, which are weekend events, which start 
up on a Saturday and end perhaps in midafternoon the next day, Sunday. 
They say they could not do that.
  In fact, not only could they do it in the vast majority of cases, but 
they should do it because we should have the same Brady law applying to 
all dealers at a gun show.
  It turns out that the FBI indicates, in their statistics, that most 
gun purchases are processed extremely quickly. In fact, using the 
national instant check system, the FBI clears 72 percent

[[Page 5688]]

of gun buyers within 30 seconds; another 23 percent are cleared within 
2 hours. So 95 percent of the people who attempt to obtain guns are 
cleared within 2 hours. It is only that other 5 percent who might 
require an additional day or two.
  But of that 5 percent, they are 20 times more likely to be prohibited 
from possessing a firearm. So the reality is that those people who 
argue for no background checks at gun shows or that they have to be 
limited to 24 hours are simply protecting those who are most likely to 
be prohibited under the law from purchasing a firearm a handgun.
  In fact, the vast majority of gun purchasers--those law-abiding 
citizens, those individuals that the NRA points to as their sterling 
members--would not be impeded at all. They would be checked within 2 
hours.
  The other aspect of this, in terms of requiring additional time for 
law enforcement officers, is that if there is a problematic application 
for a purchase, if there is a suggestion or indication that the 
individual is not qualified, then those law enforcement officers need 
the time to check out records, to go to a county courthouse or to go 
someplace else to get the records; that would be virtually impossible 
if this was limited to 24 hours on a Saturday or a Sunday.
  Frankly, they have to do it because there is a due process 
requirement. If you are going to turn down an individual from obtaining 
a firearm, that police officer has to have sufficient evidence--real 
evidence, not hearsay, not the feeling that something is wrong, not a 
thought that they heard about this individual someplace, in the coffee 
shop--that he is unreliable or might have been convicted of a crime; 
they have to have tangible evidence. Otherwise, they will be sued, 
probably by advocates and proponents of the gun lobby. So this is a 
real, practical and necessary need for enforcing the law.
  But what we hear consistently from the gun lobby is lots of 
misinformation: It will close down gun shows. There is a waiting 
period.
  All of this is wrong. The Lautenberg amendment is sound, practical, 
pragmatic legislation that will deal with the problem, that will not at 
all impede the vast majority of purchases of firearms at gun shows, and 
will contribute significantly to the elimination of--we hope, or at 
least a diminution of--the gun violence we are seeing in the country 
today.
  In the Senate last week, we had the opportunity to vote on a 
resolution I proposed that would urge the conferees to send a report 
back to us before April 20, including all of the provisions I have 
spoken about, that would, in fact, give us the chance to send this to 
the President for his signature. The vote on April 6 was 53-47, with a 
bipartisan majority. That vote has started some wheels turning.
  On April 11, Mr. Hyde, chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the 
other body, and John Conyers, the ranking member, sent a letter to 
Senator Hatch saying:

       We write to request a juvenile justice conference meeting 
     as soon as possible.

  We are making progress, but we are going to lose this momentum and 
this progress as we leave this week. Perhaps that is intentional. 
Perhaps this is about stopping the momentum that is building up, 
playing for time, hoping that we forget about Columbine, hoping that 
when the anniversary comes, we will be all around the country and the 
world and not here to respond to the concerns of families in this 
Nation who are deeply concerned about this issue.
  I have spoken about the aspects of the legislation. I have spoken 
about the logic behind it, the statistics that strongly support it. 
Ultimately, this is about people's lives in America--sadly, and too 
often, about children's lives.
  On February 29, a 6-year-old, Kayla Rolland, was shot to death by her 
6-year-old classmate in Mount Morris Township, MI. I have said this 
before and it bears repeating: If any of us last May stood on this 
floor and said a 6-year-old child would be shot to death with a handgun 
by another 6-year-old child in a school in America, we would have been 
accused and lambasted as a hysterical demagog who was trying to stir up 
unreasonable fears and concerns for political advantage.
  The truth is, it has happened. A 6-year-old is dead, shot by another 
6-year-old in a school in this country. That week, Kayla's death was 
just one of other deaths of children that go unheralded, because 12 
children die a day. For example, one young woman in Carroll County, MD, 
18 years old, died of an accidental gunshot wound to the head after she 
and her friends were admiring her father's .22-caliber revolver. Where 
were her parents? They were in Costa Rica as missionaries. Had there 
been a law requiring a trigger lock, had the gun salesman been required 
to provide a trigger lock with this weapon, I have to believe parents 
such as those would have locked up the weapon. As those teenagers were 
admiring the weapon, it wouldn't have discharged. We might have been 
able to save a life if we had acted. Think of the lives that are being 
lost because we are not acting.
  Another 16-year-old boy in Shopiere, WI, and his friend were horsing 
around with a .22-caliber pistol his mother kept for protection. It was 
usually stored in a dresser, but they got ahold of it. After posing 
with the gun for pictures, the boy pointed the gun to his head. It went 
off, killing him. As his grandmother said: It was kid's play, total 
kid's play. Ask yourself, had that weapon been secured with a child 
safety lock, would it have gone off as two young kids horsing around 
posed with it? Probably not.
  Then a 15-year-old boy in San Bernardino, CA, found his stepfather's 
handgun while his pregnant mother slept, and used to it shoot himself. 
Perhaps at the height of desperation, if he had seen a lock on that 
weapon, he might have been deterred for a moment, enough time perhaps 
to somehow come back off the edge rather than to plunge into the abyss 
and take his own life.
  A 16-year-old girl in Altoona, PA, argued with her father about her 
curfew. He was a gun collector; he had handguns. She found one and 
killed herself--over a curfew. Perhaps, again, if there had been a 
child safety lock, some other protective device, that momentary pique, 
that momentary anger we have all had with our parents, would have 
resulted in perhaps an annoyance but not death.
  That is just one week in America, the week Kayla Rolland died. But it 
is every week in America, 12 children a day. We can do more. We should 
do it, rather than leaving today and going off on our recess. That 
would be the greatest tribute to the 12 young people and the 1 teacher 
who died in Columbine High School.
  I would like to say the conference committee has been working, but 
that is not accurate. They have been waiting for a year. We have been 
waiting for a year. We can do more. We should do more. We must do more. 
The American people want it. The American people expect it. The 
American people deserve it--certainly the families of those children 
who were killed at Columbine and the 12 children a day who are victims 
of gun violence in this country.
  I realize we have lost that vote on adjournment. We will be back. We 
will come back again and again and again until we pass sensible gun 
safety legislation to make this country a bit safer and, hopefully, do 
what the American people sent us here to do: To protect their children 
and ensure a rule of law and not an error of violence that claims the 
lives of children each and every day.
  I yield the floor and reserve the remainder of my time.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I yield to the Senator from 
Massachusetts 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the budget resolution that Republicans 
put before the American people today proposes an unacceptable change of 
course, at a time when the Nation needs to stay the course of the 
investments that are driving our historic economic expansion. This is a 
budget that reverts to the days of trickle-

[[Page 5689]]

down economics, despite all the evidence that it will only widen the 
unconscionable gap that already exists between rich and poor in our 
society. It fails to respond to the challenges the Nation so obviously 
faces in education, health care, prescription drugs for the elderly, 
youth violence, firearm safety, hunger, scientific research and 
development, and environmental protection.
  The Senate improved the House budget resolution in important respects 
last week, but the House position prevailed on every issue during 
conference. The document before the Senate today is far less 
satisfactory than the budget the Senate sent to conference last Friday. 
The Senate resolution dedicated just $2.7 billion of the $150 billion 
Republican tax cut to Pell Grants that help low-income, high-achieving 
students attend college. But the House Republicans killed even this 
modest incentive for college education, preferring to keep every 
possible dollar for more tax breaks for the wealthy.
  The Senate resolution included an $8.5 billion reserve fund to expand 
early learning opportunities, so that young children enter school ready 
to learn. This was a bipartisan amendment that Senator Stevens, Senator 
Jeffords and I offered. But House Republicans blocked it.
  The Senate resolution included a pledge that the minimum wage should 
be increased by $1, but the House Republicans rejected it.
  The Senate minimum wage provision expressed our fundamental 
commitment that many of the hardest working Americans working 40 hours 
a week, 52 weeks of the year, ought not to have to continue to live in 
poverty, nor should their children. But it was rejected by the House 
conferees.
  The Senate resolution even included a provision by Republican Senator 
Arlen Specter to increase funding for medical research. But again, 
House Republicans rejected it.
  Instead, the Republican budget resolution that emerged from 
conference is a shortsighted scheme to protect narrow special-interests 
instead of the national interest. I'm proud to join my Democratic 
colleagues in voting against it. We will continue the battle for a fair 
budget in weeks and months ahead. But the final battle may well be on 
election day, when the American people at long last will have the 
choice to elect the Congress that will make the right investments, not 
the wrong investments, for the Nation's future.
  During last week's budget debate we heard many statistics that are 
misleading at best. When we cut through all the ``smoke and mirrors,'' 
what matters is that this unacceptable budget resolution supports a 
huge tax break for the wealthy that the Nation can't afford.
  The independent Congressional Budget Office confirms that the 
Republican budget resolution reduces domestic discretionary spending by 
an average of 6.5%. It is impossible for this Congress to write honest 
appropriations bills with cuts that drastic. Our Republican colleagues 
couldn't make the numbers add up without massive accounting gimmicks 
last year, and they can't do it this year.
  Our Republican friends say that they designed this budget resolution 
to curb the gimmicks used last year. But we all know there will be new 
ones used to pretend to meet the urgent needs our country faces.
  This budget also prevents us from acting to reduce the number of low-
income working families who have no health insurance--to rebuild our 
crumbling public schools, to reduce the hunger that still afflicts 3 
out of every 100 American households--to make college affordable for 
low-income students --and to achieve the scientific advances that are 
so close.
  Tax breaks for the wealthy are what this budget resolution is all 
about. No other subject is treated so often and so thoroughly. There 
are reconciliation instructions on tax cuts, reserve funds for tax 
cuts, and even provisions for more tax cuts if the surplus grows. The 
only things that this budget resolution requires committees to report 
are tax cuts. The only procedural protection under ``reconciliation'' 
provided by the resolution is for tax cuts.
  Democrats support affordable, targeted tax cuts, and they should be 
enacted promptly. But the merit of a tax cut depends on its size and 
its distribution. It is obvious that these GOP tax cuts are excessive 
and irresponsible. They offer plums for the rich and crumbs for 
everyone else, and President Clinton will be right to give them the 
veto they obviously deserve.
  The budgets we vote for say a great deal about our values. It is easy 
to pay lip service to meeting the Nation's unmet needs. But a budget 
clearly shows whether we are willing to allocate resources to address 
those needs effectively.
  This budget does not pass the laugh test. It does not seriously 
address the range of important challenges facing America. It does not 
meet our national needs in education, in health care, in medical and 
other scientific research, in security for senior citizens, in 
environmental protection, and in public safety. On all these issues, it 
is a failed budget, because it fails America. It gives the most to 
those who already have the most. It pretends that the Nation has no 
unmet needs--and it deserves to be defeated.
  Mr. President, one very important aspect of the budget that was 
altered and changed in the budget conference report concerns the issue 
of prescription drugs. This issue was before the Senate Finance 
Committee. We had debate on this measure on the floor during the budget 
consideration. We hoped to be able to have debate on this issue when we 
talked about the marriage tax penalty. Look at the contrast between the 
way the budget conference considered tax breaks and how the conference 
committee addressed prescription drugs--an issue that is calling out 
for action by this Congress, and calling out for action now.
  We made some progress in the budget resolution that passed the Senate 
earlier, but look at what happened in that conference. Look at what 
happened on one of the most important issues in this country today. 
Providing America's seniors with the help they need in order to 
survive, through a responsible, comprehensive prescription drug benefit 
that will be affordable and that will include basic benefits, as well 
as catastrophic coverage must be a priority.
  Look at the difference on what we call reconciliation of revenue 
reductions in the Senate. In other words, what did the budget 
resolution say in the conference with regard to tax cuts? It says that 
the Senate Committee on Finance shall report to the Senate a 
reconciliation bill not later than July 14 of the year 2000, and not 
later than September 13, 2000, that consists of changes in laws within 
its jurisdiction sufficient to reduce the total level of revenues by 
$11.6 billion in 2001 and $150 billion for fiscal years 2001-2005. Not 
later than July 14 or September 13. This is what is in the conference 
report with regard to prescription drugs.
  Whenever the Senate Committee on Finance reports a bill which 
improves access to prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries, the 
chairman of the Committee on the Budget may revise to accommodate such 
legislation $20 billion over the period of fiscal years 2001 through 
2005. Then the (b) section talks about Medicare reform.
  We have changed some rather specific instructions on prescription 
drugs--improving access to prescription drugs. The seniors of this 
country know the difference between access to prescription drugs and a 
benefit package that includes prescription drugs. Access to 
prescription drugs may mean a bus ticket for a senior living in Maine 
or any of the border States to go over to Canada. That is access to 
prescription drugs. We are not talking about access. We are talking 
about a benefit package that is going to be meaningful to our senior 
citizens.
  That is what this debate has been about. Our seniors understand which 
benefits they receive and they understand which benefits they don't 
receive. One benefit they do not receive is a prescription drug 
benefit. In addition, the $20 billion which may have access to 
prescription drugs at this time is half the amount the President has 
recommended.
  This is a clear abdication of this body's responsibility to our 
seniors. We

[[Page 5690]]

cannot go home without taking action on an effective prescription drug 
program. We on this side of the aisle feel strongly that one of the 
priorities that should have been attended to prior to a tax break is an 
effective prescription drug program; one that is universal, basic and 
catastrophic, and affordable--affordable to the individuals and 
affordable to our government.
  But, no, we get lip service on the issue of prescription drugs in 
this particular proposal. That in and of itself should be enough reason 
to reject the proposal. If you vote for this budget, you are not 
serious about making sure our seniors are going to have prescription 
drugs. You cannot vote for this budget and say you are serious about 
prescription drugs because this budget does not provide the necessary 
assurance to our senior citizens.
  I will take a final minute to talk about the drug crisis America's 
seniors are facing. Prescription drug coverage is going down at the 
same time drug costs are going up. I shared with the Senate the other 
day the reality our senior citizens across this country face. A third 
of all senior citizens don't have any prescription drug coverage at 
all; another third are losing coverage. These seniors have employer-
based coverage, which is declining dramatically every single year. Then 
there are seniors with coverage through HMOs; their coverage is being 
squeezed out. The only group that has reliable coverage are the poorest 
of the poor who are covered under the Medicaid program. Prescription 
drug coverage is not just another benefit, it is life and death for our 
seniors.
  This chart demonstrates what has been happening to drug costs. We are 
seeing double-digit increases in drug costs. From 1995, going up; in 
1997, up 14 percent; and in 1998, up 15 percent; in 1999, up 16 
percent. These increases were at a time when we had an average of a 2-
percent increase in the rate of inflation.
  This issue affects Americans all across this country; it isn't an 
issue just in the Northeast. It is an issue in the Northeast, the 
Southeast, the Midwest, the Northwest and the Southwest. It is a 
universal issue. Our senior citizens deserve better action by the 
Budget Committee in the conference. It is a tragedy. But we are 
strongly committed on this side of the aisle not to give up on this 
issue. We are going to take every opportunity to fight for prescription 
drugs. We believe our seniors are entitled to an effective drug 
program. We think a prescription drug program is absolutely essential. 
It has to be one of our top priorities. It should have been done right 
by the Budget Committee.
  The prescription drug benefit is more deserving than the tax breaks 
which are included in this resolution. That was the issue that was 
before the Budget Committee. That is the issue that is before the 
Senate of the United States this afternoon. That is the most important 
reason I will vote ``no.''
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I note the presence of Senator Boxer on 
the floor. I have 45 minutes remaining and I will take a few minutes to 
discuss Senator Kennedy's remarks.
  Mr. President, fellow Senators, nothing could be further from the 
truth than this budget resolution and this budget conference does not 
provide for Medicare prescription relief for senior citizens.
  Let me state what I think the triggering mechanism would have 
ultimately done. It would work in favor of those who don't want a 
bipartisan solution because they could have stonewalled this until the 
date arrived and then produce a partisan solution to Medicare on the 
floor of the Senate. But nobody should deny the work and the 
authenticity of what is in this budget resolution as suggested in our 
Budget Committee by the distinguished Senator from Maine, Senator 
Snowe.
  Senator Snowe recognizes seniors don't want a prescription drug added 
to a Medicare program that is going bankrupt. We provide in this budget 
resolution if there is some reform in this program, $40 billion in new 
money can be used for prescription drugs. I don't want to let my voice 
grow any louder because I have on different occasions wondered whether 
talking extremely loud helps with one's case or not. I have no 
illusions but that I am speaking to myself and I will speak very 
moderately about this. The truth of the matter is, the Finance 
Committee of the Senate is challenged by this budget resolution to 
produce a bipartisan solution to the issue of prescription drugs. Some 
in this body do not want a bipartisan solution because it will have 
some of the good points of experts on our side about how to fix this, 
including the distinguished Senator from Tennessee, Mr. Frist the 
distinguished Senator from Maine, Ms. Snowe, a Republican, and many 
others.
  Let me repeat, this budget resolution says whatever you do on taxes 
or tax relief, such as the marriage tax penalty, there is in addition 
to that, $40 billion for Medicare. That is $40 billion that can be used 
for prescription drugs. If the committee in charge of this wants to use 
it all for prescription drugs, they have to provide some reform to the 
system.
  Frankly, there is a big split over whether that is what the bill 
ought to do. But the Budget Committee opted, in this budget resolution, 
to try to be on the side of pursuing a bipartisan solution in the 
committee of jurisdiction, which has had 14 hearings, and is going to 
do something. The House is going its way. Before the year is out, we 
will have a bipartisan solution on this floor. That is precisely what 
would be good for seniors. We will take the politics out of Medicare, 
and we will put money into prescription drugs. That is really what we 
want to do in this budget resolution.
  Some may call it irresponsibility. I call it the height of 
responsibility. I believe to do otherwise is an invitation to election 
year politicking about Medicare prescription drugs that is, in the end, 
apt not to help with the Medicare program which everybody wants to try 
to fix and add prescription benefits.
  I want to repeat, the reason we have tax relief in this budget, and 
tell the committee to produce it, is the very issue we debated 4 hours 
ago on this floor called marriage tax penalty reform. It will cost, if 
we do it right, somewhere between $50 and $65 billion. Where will we 
get that relief for the millions of married couples? We will get it in 
this budget resolution and get $40 billion for Medicare, prescription 
drugs, and reform.
  If the seniors understand the two positions, they will say let's go 
try this; let's have Senators on that committee of finance, Democrat 
and Republican, working on a solution that belongs to everybody. It 
will probably be a right solution for the trust fund if it is a 
bipartisan solution.
  So I repeat, there is money for prescription drugs and there is money 
for tax relief, such as the marriage tax penalty reform that must be 
adopted.
  I reserve the remainder of the time I have on the resolution.
  Mr. REED. I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from California from the 
time I control.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Smith of Oregon). The Senator from 
California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I want to say to Senator Reed, he is a 
very powerful voice in favor of sensible gun laws. He is taking every 
opportunity he can. He has stated this many times, to bring this matter 
of the juvenile justice bill that contains all these important gun 
control laws to the floor of the Senate. Today he said we should not 
adjourn until we take care of this. I think he is making a very 
important point. We have five important, sensible gun control measures 
in the juvenile justice bill. We voted for them here. On one of them, 
it was Al Gore, the Vice President, who broke that tie vote on closing 
the gun show loophole on which Senator Lautenberg had worked so hard, 
to keep away from children, and to keep away from people who are 
mentally unstable, and keep away from criminals, access to weapons.
  It is a very sad day indeed that we are going home, now, right on the 
heels of the tragic anniversary of Columbine--those killings occurred a 
year ago--and we have done nothing.
  I want to state for the Record, every time my friend Senator Reed 
comes to

[[Page 5691]]

the floor, I will be there with him as long as it takes. We are going 
to have a Million Mom March. I don't know whether a million moms will 
come, but thousands will come to march in favor of these very 
responsible gun laws. I intend to be there, and many of us will be 
there with them. We will not stop the pressure.
  Mr. President, every budget is a roadmap. This budget takes us down 
the wrong road at almost every turn. I agreed with one thing that 
happened in the conference, and I want to say thank you to the House. I 
am very careful not to say thank you to my chairman, who told me not to 
thank him for this because he is on the other side. The language 
calling for drilling in the Arctic wildlife refuge was removed. I am 
very pleased about that. I thank the House for doing that. I hope we do 
not have to face that fight this year, next year, or the year after.
  But in terms of everything else that happened, this budget got 
decidedly worse. It is leading us down the wrong road, a road that does 
not adequately fund education or prescription drug benefits, a road 
that doesn't reduce the debt enough, a road that leads to risky tax 
cuts that can derail our economic recovery and therefore endanger 
Medicare and even Social Security.
  This is a road that lacks fiscal responsibility. It has no room in it 
for a lands legacy bill that people on both sides of the aisle want to 
see, where we can take offshore oil revenues and put them into good use 
by expanding our public ownership of precious lands we are losing and 
preserve historic areas. I think this budget puts America in a risky, 
dangerous position and it does not meet the needs of our people.
  We know what will happen if this budget goes into effect, as it will, 
and the appropriators carry it out. We will see cuts to the most 
vulnerable population--cuts in the Women, Infants and Children feeding 
program, cuts in Head Start, in the Job Corps, in child care, in 
children's mental health. Those cuts will be perhaps more than 10 
percent.
  We could not get more funding for afterschool programs even though we 
had some bipartisan support. The police chiefs all across this land 
know that is the best crimefighting program. We could not get that. We 
know juvenile crime peaks between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. What does this 
budget say? We are holding the line on afterschool programs, and the 
million kids waiting to get in will simply have to wait. One million 
kids are waiting to get into afterschool programs. That is how popular 
they are. Ninety percent of the American people want them. The police 
want them. The President put it in his budget, and they have cut his 
request in half, leaving 1 million people out of the loop.
  I do not understand how we can say we speak for the people when we 
walk away from a program that has 90 percent approval and one we know 
works.
  Senator Kennedy has talked about the flimsy prescription drug 
benefit. It is not going to help our seniors if we make them think we 
are doing something for them but we do not back it up with funding. 
Senator Conrad, who will speak after I finish my remarks, has talked 
long and hard about a lockbox for Medicare. That was voted down. That 
is gone.
  We agreed to lock up Social Security but not Medicare. It does not do 
us any good if our people get their full Social Security benefit and 
they have to turn around and pay more and more for Medicare. They are 
going to be poor one way or the other. If my colleagues support Social 
Security, they have to support Medicare. This budget simply does not do 
it.
  My colleagues should see the letters that come from the people in my 
State who are forced to cut their medicine in half in order to make 
ends meet. They are choosing between prescription drugs and eating 
dinner. This is America. This is wrong.
  Why does this budget turn out this way? Because of a risky tax cut.
  Maybe some say it is good to have a tax cut; maybe they look at the 
tax cut as helping people who really need it. One roadmap we have is 
George W. Bush's tax cut. Let's look at that one. What happens if one 
earns over $300,000? They get back $50,000 a year. They will be popping 
those champagne corks in the boardrooms. But if one earns $38,000 a 
year, they will get back about $260 or $280 a year.
  Summing up, this budget takes us down the wrong path any way one 
looks, whether it is looking at tax cuts that are fair and targeted, 
sensible and fiscally responsible, or it is a prescription drug benefit 
that makes sense for our seniors, protecting Medicare that makes sense 
for our seniors, or investing in education which makes sense for our 
children, or having a reserve fund for our environment.
  By the way, on energy efficiency, they slash and burn the President's 
proposal, and then they say he has no energy policy. This budget takes 
us down a bad road. It should be rejected, Mr. President.
  Mr. ROBB. Mr. President, I regret that I am unable to support the 
budget resolution that is before us today. Our annual budget resolution 
supposedly represents our nation's fiscal blueprint, but this document 
comes up short in terms of what our priorities ought to be. Instead of 
large, untargeted and unwarranted tax cuts, we ought to be dedicating 
our resources towards rebuilding our nation's schools, providing 
Seniors with affordable medication, strengthening Social Security and 
building up our national defense--in addition to paying down the 
national debt, so that the federal government can stay out of the 
capital market and be better equipped to handle dips in the economy in 
the future. In all of these categories the budget resolution falls 
woefully short. Through fiscal discipline the past seven years, we 
finally have the ability to begin to address our real needs. We cannot 
allow this golden opportunity to slip through our fingers. We owe it to 
our children and our parents to do a better job.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am disappointed that the conference 
committee dropped an amendment I offered with Senator Kohl that would 
have applied additional surpluses estimated by CBO to debt reduction 
rather than tax cuts. I had hoped that this fiscally responsible 
amendment, which was unanimously adopted by the Senate, would be 
included in the final version of the budget resolution. Instead, the 
Committee accepted a House provision that would allow the budget 
chairman to use additional surpluses for tax cuts above and beyond the 
$150 billion in cuts already in the resolution. I find it disheartening 
that Congress is not even willing to commit unexpected surpluses to 
debt reduction.
  In the 1980s, Congress went on a tax cut binge and left the bill for 
our children. During those years we all saw the lip service paid and 
the sloganeering about balancing the budget, while we simultaneously 
tripled the national debt and ran the biggest deficits of any nation in 
the history of the world. As a result, the national debt now stands at 
$3.6 trillion and the Federal government pays almost $1 billion in 
interest every working day on this debt. Now that we have surpluses, we 
have a chance and an obligation to pay off that debt. This budget 
resolution fails to live up to that responsibility.
  Nothing would do more to keep our economy strong than paying down our 
national debt. Paying down our national debt will keep interest rates 
low. Consumers gain ground with lower mortgage costs, car payments, 
credit card charges with low interest rates. And small business owners 
can invest, expand and create jobs with low interest rates.
  Alan Greenspan and nearly every other economist who has testified 
before the Senate Budget and Finance Committees has stated that our 
nation's budget surpluses should be used to pay down the debt. And yet, 
the Republican budget resolution proposes far less debt reduction than 
the budgets developed by President Clinton and Senate Democrats. This 
resolution would use 98% of the non-Social Security surplus for tax 
breaks which would primarily benefit the wealthy. By dropping our 
amendment, Congress is in danger of using an even higher percentage of 
the surplus for tax cuts, and even less for debt reduction. This does 
not make fiscal sense.
  During markup, Senator Lautenberg offered an alternative budget that

[[Page 5692]]

would have reduced $330 billion in debt over ten years, while providing 
almost $300 billion in targeted tax cuts--cuts that would go towards 
eliminating the marriage tax penalty, permitting the self-employed a 
full tax deduction for their health insurance and providing estate tax 
relief for family farmers and small business owners. Such cuts would be 
fair and targeted to help all Vermonters, not just the wealthy. 
Unfortunately, this amendment failed.
  In 1993, Congress charted a course of fiscal discipline and the 
country has reaped the benefits of this successful plan. Republicans 
and Democrats can rightfully claim their shares of the credit for 
getting the nation's fiscal house in order. The important thing now is 
to keep our budget in balance, to pay down our debt, and to keep our 
economy growing. Unfortunately, this budget resolution fails to make a 
real commitment to debt reduction, which is why I must vote against it.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time? The Senator from North 
Dakota.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask for time off our side off the 
resolution and ask to be notified when I have consumed 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, this is one of the most important 
decisions we make every year: the question of the budget outline for 
the United States; what are our priorities; where is the money going to 
be spent; what are the revenue sources for the United States. The 
fundamental question is, Are we going to maintain fiscal discipline? 
Are we going to maintain a strategy that has produced the longest 
economic expansion in our country's history?
  This article appeared in the Washington Post in the business section 
announcing that the expansion was, at that time, the Nation's longest. 
This is back in February. Of course, the expansion has now been 
extended even further. But even then, we had created the longest 
economic expansion in our country's history. I say when ``we'' created; 
I am talking about all of us as Americans.
  Part of it is a result of Federal policy: the fiscal policy of the 
country, which is controlled by the Congress and the President of the 
United States, and the monetary policy, which is controlled by the 
Federal Reserve. The two work hand in glove to produce economic results 
for this country.
  Obviously, the underlying strength of America is the people of this 
country. Their hard work, their innovation, their creativity, their 
entrepreneurial spirit and drive makes this country the greatest 
economic power on the face of the globe.
  It is important to remember the economic strategy and the economic 
plan that brought us to where we are today. If we look back at the last 
three administrations and look at the question of the budget deficits 
that are so important to the fiscal policy of this country and the 
monetary policy, this is what one finds: The Reagan administration 
inherited a deficit of about $80 billion and promptly ran it up to over 
$200 billion and dramatically expanded the Nation's debt over the 
period of that administration. In fact, they more than tripled the 
national debt during this period.
  Then we had the Bush administration, which inherited a deficit of 
$153 billion and promptly ran it up to a $290 billion deficit. It 
actually was somewhat worse than that because this is counting the 
Social Security surplus. The true deficit, at least as I define it, was 
well over $300 billion.
  The Clinton administration came in, and in 1993, we passed a 5-year 
budget plan that was designed to reduce the deficit dramatically to 
take pressure off interest rates and to get this economy moving again. 
That plan passed without a single Republican vote in either the House 
or the Senate. These are the facts.
  That 5-year plan was put into place, and here are the results. They 
are clear; they are unambiguous. They show that each and every year 
that 5-year plan reduced the budget deficit, first, to $255 billion; 
then to $203 billion; then to $164 billion; then to $107 billion; then 
to $22 billion. By the end of the 5-year plan, we had done what was 
perhaps thought impossible when we started. We had balanced the Federal 
budget.
  Now we anticipate a $176 billion budget surplus in this year. This is 
a plan that worked.
  This shows the trend in receipts and outlays, the expenditures of the 
Federal Government that made this plan work. The blue line shows the 
spending of the Federal Government; the red line shows the receipts of 
the Federal Government. This is over a 20-year period.
  What it shows is obviously our spending was higher than receipts for 
an extended period in the eighties. That is why we were running massive 
budget deficits. When Democrats voted for a 5-year plan to get our 
fiscal house in order, spending came down each and every year in 
relationship to the size of our economy, revenue went up each and every 
year because, in part, we raised taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent in 
this country, and spending was cut. That is what allowed us to balance 
the budget, get our fiscal house in order, and kick off the longest 
economic expansion in our history. That is the record. Those are the 
facts.
  The question is, Are we going to put all this at risk and go back to 
the old, bad days of ``debt'' and ``deficits'' and ``decline,'' what I 
call the three Ds? I very much hope we do not return to those policies 
and those plans and that set of results: debt, deficits, and decline. 
That would be a profound mistake. Why would we ever turn our back on an 
economic strategy that has worked so well?
  Let's look at the results.
  Federal spending is now at its lowest level since 1966. We cut 
spending with that 5-year plan in 1993. Democrats cut spending because 
we did not have any help from the other side of the aisle--none. We cut 
spending because it was necessary to get our fiscal house in order.
  The results of reducing those deficits has been the virtuous cycle: 
Reduced deficits, reduced debt, and reduced interest rates that helps 
spur investment in the private sector, that helps spur private growth 
in the private sector, that led to the creation of over 20 million 
jobs, that gave us the lowest level of inflation since 1965. The 
virtuous cycle does not end there because it also gave us the lowest 
rate of unemployment in 42 years.
  These are the results of an economic plan that was put in place in 
1993. It has also brought down the debt. What a remarkable 
circumstance. But we have actually started bringing down the publicly 
held debt. We are in a position to nearly pay it off by the year 2010. 
We are in a position to pay off the publicly held debt of this country 
by the year 2013, if we stay on course.
  Alan Greenspan, who is in charge of monetary policy--the Congress and 
the President are in charge of fiscal policy; the Federal Reserve is in 
charge of monetary policy--the head of monetary policy for our country 
says: Pay down the debt first. That is what he is urging us to do.
  He is not alone because virtually every economist of whatever 
ideological persuasion who has come before the Budget Committee and the 
Finance Committee, on which I sit, has told us: The highest priority 
ought to be to continue to pay down the debt, to put us in a position 
to deal with the baby-boom generation when it starts to retire and puts 
enormous demands on Medicare, on Social Security, on veterans programs; 
that the best way to prepare for the day when they retire is to build 
this economy, to grow this economy. And the best way to grow this 
economy is to lift the debt burden that is on this economy.
  That is what will hold down interest rates. That is what will keep 
the Government out of competition in private markets for scarce 
resources. That will allow additional resources to go into private 
investment.
  This plan, this strategy, has been working. Now, all of a sudden, our 
friends on the Republican side, who opposed putting in place that 
strategy that has worked so well, tell us: Ah, well, we were wrong 
then, but trust us, let's go back to that failed strategy we

[[Page 5693]]

were pursuing before, and let's try it again.
  Why would we do that? It makes no earthly sense.
  What will happen if we take this risky approach they are proposing? I 
submit to you, in their plan they use all of the non-Social Security 
surplus--all of it--for a tax cut, a tax cut that goes to the 
wealthiest among us. Senator McCain said it well during the campaign. 
He questioned the Bush plan to take 60 percent of the benefits of their 
tax plan and to give it to the wealthiest 10 percent.
  Mr. Bush has said, over and over, in his campaign: What they don't 
know in Washington is, this is the people's money. He is right about 
that. It is the people's money. The question is, What should be done 
with the people's money? Should it be given to the wealthiest 10 
percent--disproportionately given to the wealthiest 10 percent--or 
should our top priority be to use the people's money to pay down the 
people's debt? I submit to you, the highest priority ought to be to pay 
down the people's debt. But that is not the Republican priority.
  It is true they take all of the Social Security surplus and reserve 
it for Social Security. We do the same thing in our budget. That is the 
right thing to do. I applaud them for it. But on the non-Social 
Security surplus, they have quite a different approach.
  I think, objectively stated, the non-Social Security surplus is most 
likely to be about $170 billion over the next 5 years. The Republican 
plan has a $150 billion tax cut, a $25 billion reserve for tax cuts, 
and costs another $21 billion in interest. So they have $196 billion 
reserved for a tax cut that goes primarily to the wealthiest among us 
when we have only $171 billion available in a non-Social Security 
surplus.
  Where is the rest of the money going to come from? I think it is 
going to come right out of the Social Security trust fund. We are going 
to go back to the old, bad days of raiding the Social Security trust 
fund surplus. I hope not. I do not know how else it happens.
  Our priority on the Democratic side is to use the vast majority of 
the projected surpluses over the next 10 years for debt reduction. In 
fact, we use 82 percent of the projected surpluses for debt reduction. 
That is, every penny of the Social Security surplus for Social 
Security, since it is not used for that purpose immediately, goes to 
pay down the debt. The Republicans do the same thing. But, in addition, 
we take 36 percent of the non-Social Security surplus and use that for 
further paying down the debt.
  We also have a chunk of money for tax relief--not nearly as much as 
they do; we will stipulate to that. Their priority is a big tax cut to 
the wealthiest among us. Our priority is to pay down the debt.
  As I indicated, we take all of the Social Security surplus and use 
that to pay down debt. But, in addition, we take, of the non-Social 
Security surplus, 36 percent of it for debt reduction. We take 29 
percent of it for tax cuts because we, too, believe tax relief is 
important.
  We would like to solve the marriage tax penalty. We would like to 
ease the estate tax burden. We would like to deal with some of the 
other inequities in the Tax Code.
  We also reserve 23 percent for high-priority domestic needs such as 
defense, education, agriculture, and, yes, a prescription drug benefit.
  We believe these are the priorities of the American people.
  Let me conclude by saying there are some on the Republican side who 
have argued over and over that the tax burden on the American people is 
the highest it has ever been.
  The tax revenues are high, but the tax burden, the tax rates, on 
individual taxpayers are not high. That is odd. How can the revenues be 
high but the tax rates on individuals not be high? The reason is, we 
have a booming economy that produces lots of revenue. That is part of 
the virtuous cycle we have created by getting our fiscal house in 
order.
  But if we look at the individual tax burden, what we find is, 
contrary to what our friends on the Republican side say so often and so 
repeatedly, the Federal tax level has fallen for most people in this 
country.
  Let me quote from the Washington Post of March 26 of this year:

       Studies Show Burden Now Less Than 10%
       For all but the wealthiest Americans, the federal income 
     tax burden has shrunk to the lowest level in four decades, 
     according to a series of studies by liberal and conservative 
     tax experts. . . .

  What we see is that the tax burden on individual Americans has been 
reduced, and reduced dramatically.
  The article further states:

       The Congressional Budget Office estimates the middle fifth 
     of American families, with an average income of $39,100, paid 
     5.4 percent in income tax in 1999, compared with 8.3 percent 
     in 1981. The Treasury Department estimates a four-person 
     family, with a median income of $54,900, paid 7.46 percent of 
     that in income tax, the lowest since 1965.
  The article continues: The Conservative Tax Foundation figures that 
the median two-earner family, making $68,000, paid 8.8 percent in 1998, 
about the same as 1955.
  This is a question of priorities. We ought to reject this budget and 
pass the alternative.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from 
Washington,
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. First, I thank the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. 
Lautenberg, for his tremendous leadership on the Democratic side of the 
Budget Committee. I have truly enjoyed working with him and will miss 
him a great deal in the coming years. His leadership has been so 
important to all of us.
  I come to the floor today to address the Republican budget proposal 
and to tell my colleagues that I will be a ``no'' vote because I 
believe it fails to reflect the priorities of families across this 
country. In fact, if this budget were submitted to any math class, it 
would get an F because, frankly, the numbers do not add up.
  The reality in this budget does not meet the rhetoric. Despite all 
the claims, when we do the math, the things Americans care about--
improving their education, reducing the debt, saving Social Security, 
strengthening and modernizing Medicare--have all been left behind. The 
things that matter to families have been sacrificed in the name of an 
irresponsible tax cut.
  I am disappointed that this budget abandons the progress we have made 
since 1993. Since I first joined the Budget Committee, our Nation's 
financial strength has grown dramatically. Through the hard work of the 
President, the Vice President, and Congress, we have turned deficits 
into surpluses. We learned many important lessons. We learned that 
budgets must be realistic. They have to take into account what our 
Nation needs and what we are capable of providing.
  This budget is neither realistic nor responsible. It does not provide 
the necessary investments in education and health care. It does not 
ensure that prescription drug coverage for Medicare beneficiaries will 
be considered before we enact tax cuts. Instead, this Republican budget 
sacrifices our priorities for a $200 billion tax cut.
  I am extremely concerned that this tax cut could eat up all of the 
on-budget surplus. Given this Congress' track record on tax cuts, it is 
fair to assume that, as usual, the top 10 percent of the people will 
get more than 60 percent of the benefits. The President and the 
American people rejected that tax plan last year, and I expect they 
will reject it again. We can have responsible and fair tax cuts that 
are fiscally prudent, but you won't find them in this budget.
  I am also disappointed that this conference report dropped two 
important priorities during the conference committee. First, an 
important amendment I introduced to ensure programs that help victims 
of domestic violence was dropped. Another amendment concerning pipeline 
safety was also left behind. In the Senate Budget Committee, I 
introduced an amendment to ensure that pipeline safety efforts are 
funded at levels that were called for in my bill. My amendment was 
unanimously passed by the Senate Budget Committee. Unfortunately, this 
budget makes it almost impossible to fully fund the Office of Pipeline 
Safety. Our

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budget should help us make our pipeline safer. I fear this budget moves 
away from our responsibility.
  I will be talking later this evening about the issue of pipeline 
safety as well.
  While those two key amendments were dropped, I am pleased that my 
amendment concerning women and Social Security was affirmed. After 2 
years, the Republican budget conferees have finally committed that 
Social Security reform should not penalize women. I am pleased it is in 
this budget.
  Overall, to make room for their tax cut, Republicans shortchanged the 
investments that really matter to the American people. In fact, in key 
areas, this budget doesn't even keep up with inflation.
  I will give a few examples of how this budget leaves America's 
priorities behind. The decisions in this budget will be felt in 
classrooms across America. The budget before us would decimate the 
progress we have made over the last 2 years in reducing overcrowded 
classrooms. In the last 2 years, we have hired 29,000 new, fully 
qualified teachers to reduce class sizes in first, second, and third 
grades. Today, because of that action, 1.7 million students are 
learning in classrooms where the basics are taught in a disciplined 
environment. We should be building on our progress. This Republican 
budget before us today abandons our progress. This budget tells 
students: Sorry, you are going to have to sit in an overcrowded 
classroom next year because, under the Republican tax plan, you are not 
a priority.
  It should be a priority that we pay down our national debt instead of 
passing that burden along to our children. This budget tells every 
young American: Sorry, you better start saving money now to pay off the 
national debt because, under the Republican tax plan, you are not a 
priority.
  It is a priority that we strengthen and modernize Medicare. It is a 
priority that seniors get help buying the medicine they need because no 
one should have to choose between buying medicine and paying for food. 
This budget tells seniors: Sorry, you can't get the prescription drug 
coverage you need because, under the Republican tax plan, you are not a 
priority.
  The American people want real budgets, not gimmicks. They want to 
know that our Nation's vital priorities are being treated as 
priorities. They don't want the things that matter in their lives to be 
squeezed out by unbalanced tax cuts that only benefit a few people.
  We should be using the surplus we have today to honor our commitments 
to our children and to our seniors. Now is the time to address the 
long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare and to provide 
resources to local communities to make our classrooms ready for the 
21st century. Those are the things a responsible budget would do. We 
should pass a budget that reflects the priorities of the American 
people and one that is realistic. I believe the budget before us fails 
the American people on both counts. Therefore, I must oppose it.
  I thank the Chair and yield the remainder of my time to the 
Democratic side.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Would the Chair inform me how much time remains?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico has 40 minutes; 
the Senator from Rhode Island has 26 minutes; the Senator from New 
Jersey has 20 minutes.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I don't intend to use the entire time I 
have. I would like to make sure I understand where they are going on 
the other side. If we are going to make an effort to vote earlier, I 
will be yielding back some of my time. I yield myself 6 minutes.
  First, let me identify the occupant of the chair. The occupant of the 
chair is one of our new Senators, Mr. Smith, from way over on the West 
Coast. I am very proud to have him in the Senate, but I am more proud 
that he is on the Budget Committee. There are people talking about what 
happens in this budget resolution, such as the distinguished Senator, 
Mrs. Murray, talking about a sense-of-the-Senate resolution as if it 
were binding on somebody. It is nothing more than what it says. It 
doesn't affect anything. To the extent we dropped some of her 
provisions, there were scores of sense-of-the-Senate resolutions in 
this budget that we did not take.
  What we did keep was something for which the distinguished occupant 
of the chair fought hard. I am told there are so many people watching 
C-SPAN. Sometimes I wonder how many times they want to hear the same 
speech, but I believe, when it is given again on that side, I have to 
say a few words.
  I repeat: Because of the distinguished Senator who occupies the 
chair, working in concert with the distinguished Senator from Maine, 
Ms. Snowe, helped by Senator Wyden from the same State as the occupant 
of the chair, we have a real provision we did not drop that has to do 
with Medicare prescription drugs and Medicare reform. I was so pleased 
to hear a freshman Senator, the occupant of the chair, say he wanted to 
support the Snowe amendment for $40 billion and that we might as well 
face up and get a bill. It says we can use the whole $40 billion for 
prescription drugs, and it is not crowded out by tax relief. It is 
separate and distinct; it is available.
  We have said if you do some reform to preserve the well-being of the 
Medicare system, you can have $40 billion in new money for prescription 
drugs. Now, if you choose to only do prescription drugs and do nothing 
to Medicare, it gets $20 billion to go ahead and add some prescription 
drugs. Frankly, I believe the Senator occupying the chair, Senator 
Smith of Oregon, was on the side of a very large majority of Senators. 
I think so long as we keep it bipartisan there is going to be an effort 
to repair the Medicare system for the senior citizens, which is going 
broke, and we can say we reformed it and modernized it and at the same 
time we have added $40 billion for prescription drugs.
  No matter how many times the other side repeats it--and I don't know 
that I am going to answer it again today--I will tell you what I know 
is in the budget resolution. If I had to read the words, you would see 
I am paraphrasing the words quite accurately. With reference to 
education, we can continue to hear specifics, that we didn't provide 
classroom teachers. Let me repeat, the only time we are going to find 
out what we really do for education is when the Appropriations 
Committee, headed by Senator Specter, produces an appropriations bill, 
because anything we say in this budget resolution about specifics on 
education are only assumptions.
  Many times, if not most of the time, the Appropriations Committee 
decides what they are going to spend on education, which programs they 
are going to fund, and whether it is going to be less children per 
classroom or more. That is not going to be decided by this resolution. 
What is going to be, or could be, decided is how much is available for 
education--not specifics but education.
  I say that this conference report assumes $45.6 billion in the year 
2001 for the Department of Education--a $10 billion increase, or 30-
percent increase, over last year's level. Over the next 5 years, most 
interestingly, assumptions on education are $21.9 billion in new money, 
additional money, which is essentially what the President asked for.
  Now, whatever they want to say in the next hour in repetition, I 
don't know that I will answer it again. I am trying my very best to say 
that these specific things Senators bring to the Senator floor and say 
there is a sense of the Senate on it and that would have gotten it 
done, I want to be kind; I don't want to say what I might say. But the 
fact that it is in, or not, doesn't mean very much. It is what the 
Appropriations Committee does with the money. Then there is going to be 
a bipartisan debate, for which I am grateful, on whether we should have 
the status quo on education programs or whether we should have reform.
  Essentially, for anybody interested in what is going to determine 
where we spend the money and how we spend it, it may be that we are 
going to leave all

[[Page 5695]]

these categorical programs--money for more teachers and less students 
per classroom and all the other specifics that some people think are 
important--it may be that we will let the schools keep doing that. We 
are probably going to give them an option not to do that; in a way, 
that is more accommodating to them, with flexibility and 
accountability.
  That is essentially what we set up. We don't preclude that debate and 
its conclusions, which I understand from the majority leader will occur 
before this year is out. It is historical because it is coming out of 
committee of jurisdiction. It is not going to be done on the floor. It 
is headed by Senator Jeffords. Nobody thought there would be major 
reform. There is major reform, and it comes out to the floor to be 
debated.
  I don't know that I can do more on the issue of debt reduction other 
than to tell the Senate that this budget resolution has over $1 
trillion in debt service over the next 5 years. It is most interesting 
that, all of a sudden, there is a difference between reducing the debt 
held by the public through Social Security surpluses and reducing it 
with other surpluses. Let me say, dollar for dollar, it is the same 
debt reduction, or reduction held by the public. It doesn't matter 
whether it comes out of the Social Security surplus that we don't spend 
or whether it comes out of the surplus that is on budget. We have a 
different way of accounting for them.
  We think there is a lot of money available during the next 5 years. 
In fact, we think over a freeze there is $400 billion in non-Social 
Security surplus. There is already a basic budget. Looking at this 
chart, we think it is $400 billion. Interestingly enough, that is over 
freezing everything. The Democrats assume what they call a freeze in 
real spending, that would bring the spending way up to here because 
they add inflation every year and call it automatic. It is not spending 
new money. We said let's start over. So we put $212 billion in domestic 
programs--domestic and defense. We put $150 billion in tax relief, 
which we ask today, how many more times do we have to hear that our tax 
proposals are for the rich? The biggest tax proposal is the marriage 
tax penalty. Is that what they are saying is a typical Republican 
effort to help the rich? I hope all the married people in America 
listen to that argument.
  In addition, we take that surplus and we put $40 billion of it in 
this non-Social Security on the debt. I don't believe the argument is 
about debt reduction. It may be today, but the argument is: Let's spend 
that tax relief money. Let's spend this. That is what the argument is 
about. I repeat, if we don't get tax relief, all this money, $150 
billion, goes to debt reduction for the debt held by the public, adding 
to the $1 trillion I have just told you about that is in this.
  I will conclude by thanking the Budget Committee. The Republican 
majority produced this format. Obviously, from the newest Senator, to 
me as the most senior Senator on our side, we followed the lead of 
Olympia Snowe on Medicare and the leadership of my friend who is 
occupying the Chair, in getting a real Medicare proposal and that will 
drive a bipartisan solution. Let me repeat, in an election year, praise 
the Lord, if we can get a bipartisan solution to Medicare because it 
will be the right one if it turns out to be a partisan solution. I am 
afraid it will be a political solution, and I am not sure the Medicare 
trust fund for our seniors is going to come out very well. So that is 
why I think this is a good approach.
  My last observation is that the Appropriations Committee has to take 
all this money and decide what to do with it. Senator Ted Stevens is 
the chairman and that is his principal responsibility. I assure those 
who voted for this and who will vote for it today, it depends on how 
you allocate the money among priorities. But if they happen to be 
priorities we have been expressing today and that we expressed in this 
resolution, there will be plenty of funding for education, plenty of 
funding for the National Institutes of Health, plenty of funding for 
Medicare--and that is not an appropriated account--and we will have 
plenty of money to prepare our defense for this new 100 years we are 
entering where we need to make up some lost ground.
  I yield the floor and reserve the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey is recognized.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from 
Florida.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I have a lot to say and not much time in 
which to say it. The fundamental point is that this budget resolution 
represents a statement of the values of the Members of Congress, 
representing the 270 million citizens of the United States of America. 
What this budget resolution says is that we are giving a priority to 
tax cuts over meeting the moral, ethical, and legal obligations of the 
U.S. Government to its citizens by failing to make a commitment to 
strengthen Social Security and to strengthen the Medicare program. That 
is the fundamental message of this budget resolution.
  This budget resolution requires the Senate Finance Committee to 
report two bills with tax cuts totalling $150 billion in the next 5 
years. The Finance Committee can report separate legislation cutting 
taxes by an additional $25 billion over 5 years.
  The Finance Committee can report even greater tax cuts if in July the 
Congressional Budget Office projects higher on-budget surpluses.
  There is no similar set of mandates or permission as it relates to 
strengthening Social Security and strengthening and expanding Medicare. 
We must do these things. And we can do these things relative to tax 
cuts. There is no similar provision relative to our obligation to 
Social Security and Medicare.
  We already have embarked on a serious and, I say, unfocused tax-
cutting process. If you add up what we have already done in the 
educational savings account, the Patients' Bill of Rights, the minimum 
wage, small business tax cut, and what was proposed this week in terms 
of marriage penalty tax cuts, and suspension of the gas tax, with that 
hole in our transportation funding being filled by the non-Social 
Security surplus, we have already spent approximately two-thirds of the 
non-Social Security surplus we anticipate for this next fiscal year and 
approximately two-thirds of what we anticipate for the next 5 years 
with those actions alone.
  I suggest that is not a prudent way to go about using the non-Social 
Security surplus--that we ought to do first things first. The first 
thing we should do is to meet the obligation this Government has to its 
citizens in the areas of Social Security and Medicare. Why are those 
two such priorities? They are priorities because the citizens of the 
United States every payday are paying into those trust funds for Social 
Security and for Medicare. They have a legal, contractual obligation 
from the Government to meet those benefits which they anticipate. We 
need to have a similar commitment to assure that those programs are 
going to be capable of meeting those obligations.
  We also have not been faithful in this budget resolution to some 
commitments both Houses have made in terms of a prescription medication 
benefit.
  Both the Senate- and the House-passed resolutions infer--and the 
leadership of both Houses publicly stated--that we would be reserving 
$40 billion over the next 5 years for purposes of a prescription 
medication benefit.
  We received from the conference committee a commitment to spend $20 
billion for additional access to prescription medication--not a 
specific modification of the Medicare program that would incorporate 
prescription medication as a benefit of Medicare. The other $20 billion 
would be available only if there were changes in the structure of the 
Medicare program which would be scored by the Congressional Budget 
Office as increasing the solvency of the Medicare program.
  This is not the prescription medication benefit the American people 
expected. This is not the benefit we anticipated when we passed the 
budget

[[Page 5696]]

resolution in the Senate. It is not a prescription medication benefit 
that will respond to the realities of modern medicine.
  One of the reasons many of us believe it is so important to have a 
prescription medication benefit is to change the fundamental culture of 
the Medicare system. Medicare was adopted in 1965 as an acute-care 
program. If you were sick enough to go in the hospital, or if you were 
run over by a truck, Medicare would provide financing for your health 
care.
  What we need to be thinking about as we start the 21st century is the 
approach to health care most Americans want. That is an approach that 
emphasizes prevention and wellness and the maintenance of quality of 
life. Almost every step required to do that, whether it is to moderate 
diabetes, to reduce the prospect of stroke and heart disease, to deal 
with hormonal imbalances, all of those things that are fundamental to 
the quality of life, particularly of older Americans, requires 
prescription medication as a key to this accomplishment.
  Providing this prescription medication benefit is not just adding 
another benefit to Medicare, as has been asserted; rather, it is 
changing the fundamental orientation of Medicare to one that will focus 
on the wellness of the American people, and not just wait until they 
get sick enough to go in the hospital.
  That is the fundamental issue that is at risk with this budget 
resolution which puts at the top of the pyramid of American values 
providing unspecified tax cuts and puts at the bottom of American 
values meeting our contract with the Americans who have built this 
great Nation through strength in Social Security and Medicare.
  I urge the rejection of this budget resolution. Hopefully, we will 
have an opportunity to adopt one that is more in keeping with the 
desires of the American people.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from 
Minnesota.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Jersey.
  We have an economy that is booming. We have record low levels of 
unemployment. We have Government coffers that are overflowing. We have 
a predicted $3 trillion surplus over the next 10 years.
  We are still being told by this budget resolution that we can't 
afford in our country to provide a good education for every child; we 
can't afford good health care for citizens; we can't afford to do 
something about the poverty of 14 million children in our country.
  In the words of Rabbi Hill, ``If not now, when?'' This Republican 
budget resolution provides a very discouraging answer to Rabbi Hill's 
question. This budget resolution says to Rabbi Hill, ``Not now and 
probably not ever.''
  The tradeoff is simple. You have huge tax cuts disproportionately 
flowing to wealthier, high-income citizens. You have in a post-world-
war era a bloated military budget. But you have a budget resolution 
that does not invest in the health, the skill, the intellect, and the 
character of our children, and you have a budget resolution that in 
nondefense discretionary spending calls for cuts with a booming 
economy.
  We will see cuts in Head Start, new teachers, reducing class size, 
home-delivered meals to seniors, and environmental cleanup.
  We will not do well in this new century, and we will not have the 
successful economy or the successful moral nation Senator Graham talks 
about, if we don't provide a good education for every child. We will 
not do as well as we can do as a nation in this new century if we don't 
invest in the skills development of our children. We will not do as 
well as we could and must do as a nation and national community if we 
don't invest in the health of our children. We, the United States of 
America, the good country, will not be better unless we make this 
investment in our children. By that standard, this budget is sorely 
lacking. I will vote against it.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, 7 years ago we ended a failed economic 
policy of trickle down economics. It brought ballooning deficits, a 
quadrupling of the national debt, high interest rates, and low growth. 
But we made some tough decisions and tough votes. We changed the course 
of the new economic policies that invested in people and imposed needed 
fiscal discipline.
  The results are in: 21 million new jobs, 4 percent unemployment rate, 
the lowest in 30 years, the fastest growth rate in 30 years, and the 
lowest crime and welfare rate in 30 years. There is the highest home 
ownership ever, 108 months of straight economic growth, productivity-
breaking records, and inflation outside of energy is tame. Why do we 
want to change this? Why return to the days of risky tax schemes, the 
days of trickle down economics, and fiscal irresponsibility?
  That is exactly what the conference report budget before the Senate 
does. This budget resolution before the Senate provides $175 billion to 
tax cuts, skewed to the wealthiest of Americans. The Congressional 
Budget Office, however, projects $171 billion in non-Social Security 
surpluses over the next 5 years. Add the higher interest we have to pay 
on the public debt because we did tax cuts instead of paying down the 
debt, and what does that add up to? This budget conference report 
before the Senate means we will have to tap into the Social Security 
surplus in order to pay for these tax cuts.
  It is fiscally irresponsible. We ought to take a different course and 
follow the adage that when times are good, prepare for the future. That 
means the budget should put the highest priority on paying off the 
debt, securing Social Security and Medicare for the future.
  I have said time and time again on this floor, if you want to save 
Medicare and cut down on Medicare expenses today, invest in medical 
research. To that end, 3 years ago, the Senate, in a unanimous vote, 
went on record as saying we ought to double NIH basic medical research 
in 5 years. Last year, we had a historic increase of $2.3 billion to 
keep on the track of doubling NIH research in 5 years. This next year 
would require $2.7 billion. Keep in mind the Senate voted unanimously 
to double NIH funding.
  When the budget came out of committee, it was short by $1.6 billion 
for NIH research. Senator Specter, chairman of the appropriations 
subcommittee on health and human services that funds NIH, offered an 
amendment that I supported to add back the $1.6 billion to medical 
research. Nine Republicans joined the Democrats, and it passed 54-46.
  As anyone who has even opened the newspapers lately knows, we are on 
the verge of many breakthroughs in biomedical research, stem cell 
research, and the human genome, which is being mapped and will be done 
shortly. Now we need to push ahead to invest in medical research, to 
find the causes, the cures, and the preventions for many of the 
illnesses that cost Medicare so much today. Yet this conference report 
ignores the bipartisan vote in the Senate. It completely obliterates 
the $1.6 billion that was added by the Specter amendment. It has been 
wiped out.
  Let's bring it to concrete terms. What does it mean? The conference 
report that took out that $1.6 billion, when spread over the different 
research being done by NIH, means, for example, that in AIDS research, 
$179 million less than what we had in the Senate; cancer research is 
$261 million less than what we had in the Senate; prostate cancer is 
down $21 million; arthritis is down $24 million; Alzheimer's is $41.8 
million less than what we had in the Senate.
  If the conference report had kept in what we had voted for in the 
Senate, we would have an additional $261 million for cancer research; 
we would have an additional $179 million for AIDS research; we would 
have an additional $111 million for mental health research; we would 
have an additional $14 million for Parkinson's; we would have an 
additional $13 million for osteoporosis; we would have an additional 
$1.9 million for multiple sclerosis; we would

[[Page 5697]]

have another $24 million for kidney disease; we would have another $38 
million to study infant mortality; we would have another $47 million 
for diabetes research if this budget report has the $1.6 billion added 
by the Senate.
  I thought the budget we passed was inadequate before; it is woefully 
inadequate now. For the life of me, I don't understand why the $1.6 
billion was taken out of this critically needed part of meeting our 
obligations of the future for NIH basic research.
  There is another point. The Senate resolution had increased Pell 
grants by $400, bringing them up to $3,700. We have needed to do that 
over the last 20 years. The purchasing power of Pell grants went down 
25 percent. A poor student in college today can spend 25 percent less 
with the maximum Pell grant than 20 years ago. The education was also 
dropped in conference. That is deeply, deeply disappointing.
  This budget needs to be sent back to the drawing board. It targets 
fiscally irresponsible tax breaks to the wealthiest of Americans. It 
shortchanges the critical investments we need: First, in medical 
research; and, second, in investment in education to keep our economy 
and our people healthy and strong.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, in the last week, this budget has gone 
from bad to worse. That is the only ``progress'' we've seen. After a 
conference from which Democrats were excluded, our Republicans 
colleagues are now proposing even bigger tax cuts. Last week, Senate 
Republicans voted for $150 billion in tax cuts over five years, plus a 
``summer surprise'' of more tax cuts. This resolution calls for $175 
billion over five years, plus a ``summer surprise.''
  To pay for those bigger tax cuts, this resolution calls for even 
deeper cuts in education, health care, other critical priorities. It 
still calls for 6 percent across-the-board cut in discretionary 
spending next year. That hasn't changed--for obvious reasons; our 
colleagues don't want to make things even worse just before an 
election.
  But things do get much worse after the election--and every year for 
the foreseeable future--under this plan. The additional cuts all 
ratchet up in the ``out years.'' Instead of 8 percent across-the-board 
cuts by 2005, this plan calls for cuts of nearly 10 percent across-the-
board by 2005.
  This plan dramatically weakens--in fact, it all but eliminates--any 
commitment to a prescription drug benefit. Last week, this Senate 
passed a plan that dedicated $40 billion over five years for 
prescription drugs. That commitment is not included in this resolution. 
This resolution includes $20 billion to quote--``improve access to 
prescription drugs''--whatever that means. There's another $20 
billion--but that's available only after we cut Medicare benefits.
  As if that's not bad enough, this plan says the money for a 
prescription drug benefit will be available ``whenever'' the Finance 
Committee reports out a prescription drug bill. ``Whenever''? Why don't 
they just say the money will be available ``if we feel like it,'' or, 
the money will be available ``if there's anything left after we pass 
all our tax breaks''?
  The Senate-passed Republican budget at least included a date. It said 
money for prescription drug benefit would be available by Sept. 1, 
2000--whether or not the Finance Committee did its job. Now they've 
scratched out that date and written in ``whenever.'' You can 
practically see the budget writers winking! What they really mean is 
``never.''
  Last week, a majority of Senators voted that Congress should put 
prescription drugs ahead of tax cuts. Fifty-one Senators--Republicans 
and Democrats--said we should not spend one dollar on tax cuts until we 
pass a real prescription drug bill. This resolution directly 
contradicts that statement. It says, ``Forget what we said last week. 
Spend nearly $200 billion on tax cuts now. Worry about prescription 
drugs whenever.'' The contradiction would be laughable if it weren't so 
deadly serious.
  Our Republican colleagues claim that, under their plan, total 
discretionary spending next year would be $14 billion above freeze. The 
operative word is ``total.'' What they don't like to say about their 
budget is defense spending is $21 billion above a freeze; non-defense 
discretionary spending is $7 billion below a freeze.
  There's another thing our colleagues don't like to talk about: 
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the total non-Social 
Security surplus over the next five years will be $171 billion. The 
reason our colleagues don't like to talk about that is their tax cut 
costs $196 billion over 5 years--$25 billion more than entire non-
Social Security surplus.
  I am tempted to recycle that classic old Yogi Berra line--``It's deja 
vu all over again.''--because it seems like we've had this same debate 
every year for the last five years. Instead, let me use a different 
Yogi Berra quote: ``It ain't over `til it's over.'' This is just the 
beginning of the budget process. We have many months to go.
  This budget does not meet the priorities of American people. If we 
pass this flawed plan, America would miss a once-in-a-lifetime 
opportunity to sustain and expand this economic prosperity; protect 
Social Security and Medicare; and invest in America's future--in 
education, medical research, safe communities, clean water--all the 
things we need to remain strong and competitive.
  In the five years since they regained control of Congress, 
Republicans have never passed a budget without a major ``train wreck.'' 
This budget, unfortunately, sets us up to extend that record. To quote 
the Republican Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, these 
numbers are ``unrealistic.'' They do not add up. It's obvious. We know 
it, and they know it.
  We hope that this year, our colleagues will admit their plan can't 
work--before the train wreck. If they do, Democrats are ready, willing 
and determined to work with them to get the budget process back on 
track. We want to work with Republicans to write a responsible budget. 
A budget that extends the solvency of Social Security and Medicare, so 
we can avoid a Baby Boomer retirement crisis; a budget that includes a 
real Medicare prescription drug plan that is voluntary, affordable and 
universal.
  We want to work with Republicans to pass a budget that pays down our 
national debt--so we can stop wasting $220 billion a year--$600 million 
a day--on interest payments. We want to work with our colleagues to 
pass a budget that provides tax cuts to help working families with real 
needs--like child care, day care, and caring for older parents--a 
budget that invests education, health care and other critical 
priorities. We want to work with Republicans to pass a budget, in 
short, that allows us to seize, not squander, the once-in-a-lifetime 
opportunity now before us.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I will reluctantly vote against the 
Conference Report on the Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2001. 
Although the budget resolution includes most of the mechanisms approved 
by the Senate to ensure better budgetary discipline, the resolution 
fails to address the pressing issues of the impending financial 
insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, and the massive burden of 
debt that will be passed along to our children and grandchildren.
  Mr. President, for the first time in history, economic projections 
show a surplus of nearly $1.9 trillion over the next ten years, 
exclusive of the surplus in the Social Security Trust Funds. At the 
same time, we know that the Social Security system is projected to be 
bankrupt by 2037 and Medicare will be broke in 2023, leaving millions 
of elderly Americans without the promised benefits they need to live 
comfortably in their retirement years.
  Yet, this budget resolution uses none of the surplus to shore up 
either Social Security or Medicare. Nor does it apply any significant 
portion of the surplus to reducing the burden on future generations of 
our $5.7 trillion national debt. In fact, debt will actually continue 
to accumulate because the resolution allows most of the non-Social 
Security surplus to be spent on more big government programs.

[[Page 5698]]

  Mr. President, as I traveled around the country over the past several 
months, I listened to the American people. Everywhere I went, they told 
me that they wanted us to protect and preserve Social Security and 
Medicare. They said they wanted to pay down the debt. I proposed a plan 
to use the bulk of the non-Social Security surplus to do what the 
people told me they wanted to do, and still provide much-needed tax 
relief to those who need it most--lower- and middle-income families. 
Unfortunately, this budget spends too much and saves too little for the 
future, and I cannot support it.
  Mr. President, there are some very good provisions in the budget 
resolution.
  I support the increase of $4.5 billion in defense spending over the 
President's budget request, which represents real growth in the defense 
budget for the first time in many years. I am pleased that the 
conference includes the $25 million added to the defense budget to get 
12,000 enlisted families off of food stamps and end the disgrace of the 
food stamp Army once and for all. For too many years, the Clinton 
Administration has neglected the people who volunteer for military 
service. With this increase, and money freed up from eliminating waste 
and inefficiency in the defense budget, we can make progress toward 
restoring the morale and readiness of our Armed Forces.
  The addition of $1.9 billion to the budget request for veterans 
health care is the amount identified in the Independent Budget of the 
veterans groups as the minimum necessary to provide appropriate care 
for our veterans. I hope the Congress sees fit this year to restore the 
``broken promise'' of free lifetime medical care that was made to our 
nation's oldest veterans, and I intend to work with my colleagues to 
ensure all of our military personnel have access to the quality, 
affordable health care they deserve.
  Many of the specific funding assumptions in the resolution are 
laudable, but I disagree with funding most of these increases from the 
surplus. I have identified billions of dollars of pork-barrel spending 
in annual appropriations bills over the past several years--programs 
that are wasteful, inefficient, or low-priority. Because of the 
compelling need to deal with the problems in Social Security and 
Medicare, we should look within the budget to ferret out waste in order 
to fund higher priority requirements, rather than spend the entire 
surplus on more government.
  Some of the objectionable provisions in this resolution are earmarks 
that would qualify as pork-barrel spending if they were included in an 
appropriations bill. For example, the resolution identifies $700 
million to construct, or site and design, more than ten new courthouses 
in 2001. It assumes $25 million will be set aside for the construction 
of a Metro station on New York Avenue in the District of Columbia. And 
it earmarks $510 million for NOAA's Pacific coastal salmon recovery 
program. As I have always said, I am not making a judgment on the 
merits of these programs, but their mention in this resolution leads me 
to assume that they will show up as earmarks in the appropriations 
process --a process not noted for its reliance on merit over politics.
  I also note the significant cut in the International Affairs budget 
in the resolution, which is $2.7 billion less than the President's 
request and $2.2 billion below last year's level. I am concerned that, 
as in past years, the foreign affairs budget is seen as an easy target 
for cuts to offset spending in other areas. Clearly, the United States 
is and must remain a global power with global interests, both related 
to our security and that of our allies, as well as our economic health. 
Our continued international involvement requires not just a strong 
military, but a robust diplomacy. I will be looking carefully at the 
Foreign Operations Appropriations bill to ensure that the programs that 
are cut to meet this budget target are appropriate and do not in any 
way hinder our ability to influence world affairs to our advantage.
  Mr. President, I am pleased to note that the resolution includes 
several Senate-passed provisions to ensure Congress complies with the 
revenue and spending levels in the resolution to limit the amount of 
emergency spending and budgetary gimmicks, including:
  A Social Security ``lockbox'' point of order which can be raised 
against any budget resolution that dips into the Social Security Trust 
Funds.
  A permanent 60-vote point of order in the Senate challenging any 
``emergency'' in any spending or revenue bill, to ensure that emergency 
spending is truly used for emergencies and not simply to avoid 
accounting for routine spending.
  A restored firewall between defense and non-defense spending for FY 
2001, with any funds unused in either account to be used for debt 
reduction.
  Two new 60-vote points of order to prevent the use of advanced 
appropriations and delayed obligations to circumvent spending limits.
  Mr. President, there are many good provisions in the budget 
resolution, and I thank the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Budget 
Committee for taking on some very tough fights. The fact is that we 
simply have different opinions about budget priorities. I cannot 
support this resolution because it spends the surplus on more 
government, without guaranteeing funding for Social Security or 
Medicare reform or significantly reducing the debt, and I will vote 
against the resolution.
  Mr. L. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I rise today to express my opposition 
to H. Con. Res. 290, the Budget Resolution for FY 2001 Conference 
Report that the Senate is voting on today. I feel it is important to 
note that despite my opposition, I have deep and abiding respect for 
Budget Committee Chairman Domenici and recognize and appreciate the 
hard work, expertise, and excellent leadership that he has displayed in 
the Senate's consideration of the federal budget.
  There is much to praise in Chairman Domenici's budget. Increased 
funding for education and defense. A reserve fund of $40 billion for a 
prescription drug benefit. Provisions to do away with budgetary 
gimmicks. A Social Security Lock-Box. But, there is just too much money 
set aside for tax cuts, and not enough for paying down the debt.
  While I support some targeted tax cuts, such as the low-income 
housing tax credit, and marriage penalty relief, I believe that $150 
billion over five years in tax cuts is too much. Instead, I believe it 
makes more sense to pay down the debt. The federal debt--currently $5.7 
trillion, with interest costs of over $200 billion per year, or almost 
12 percent of annual federal outlays--represents a huge burden that 
should not be passed on to our children and to our grandchildren. Not 
only is this massive debt a problem, but by paying down the debt we 
would free up more than $200 billion per year. That money eventually 
could be used to ensure the solvency of Social Security and Medicare; 
to increase funding for education, specifically, Individuals with 
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); needed infrastructure and 
environmental improvements; and to provide for tax relief.
  Let me take a few moments to explain a number of my votes from last 
week during the Senate's consideration of the Budget Resolution. I 
voted for an amendment offered by Senator Conrad that would have 
reduced the tax cuts in the Budget Resolution from $150 billion over 
five years to $75 billion for tax cuts and $75 billion for debt relief. 
I also voted for an amendment offered by Senator Voinovich that would 
have struck all tax relief from the Budget Resolution so that it may be 
used for debt relief. Believing that the approach taken by Senator 
Lautenberg was more fiscally responsible, I voted in favor of his 
amendment because it contained only $59 billion in tax cuts and 
provided for more debt relief. Finally, I voted against the Budget 
Resolution as it was reported from Committee because it contained a too 
high level of tax cuts and not enough debt relief.
  All of us who have had to pay interest--be it on our house, car, 
credit card, or other payment--know that these costs are painful. We 
need to apply the same fiscal discipline here in

[[Page 5699]]

Congress that we apply at home. To pay out 12 percent of our revenues 
annually on interest costs rather than on education, needed 
infrastructure construction and improvements, and to ensure the 
solvency of the Social Security and Medicare programs, seems to me to 
be a poor investment of taxpayer dollars. Therefore, in an effort to 
encourage fiscal discipline and responsibility, I am casting my vote 
against the Budget Resolution Conference Report.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, first I must congratulate the Chairman 
of the Budget Committee, Senator Domenici, for producing an on-time 
budget for only the third time in the 24-plus-year history of the 
Budget Act.
  Thrifty, cautious, and conservative. These adjectives describe the 
Yankee qualities of many Vermonters when someone tries to get them to 
open their wallets, and are in the genes of anyone who represents our 
great state in Congress. I am pleased that this resolution protects 
social security. Not one penny of the social security surplus is 
touched. Second, it balances the budget every year without using the 
social security surplus. Thirdly, this resolution retires the national 
debt held by the public--nearly $170 billion in the first year and $1 
trillion over the next five years.
  I am greatly troubled, however, about certain elements in the budget, 
and will vote against the fiscal year 2001 budget resolution now before 
the Senate.
  What would a cautious farmer do when times are good--invest in new 
equipment to become more efficient, pay off debts, and put some away 
for a rainy day. There is no question that tax relief is warranted, but 
not at the expense of education, veterans health, job training, child 
care and other important discretionary programs.
  A farmer cautiously guards his seed corn for future harvests. Our 
nation's seed corn is its youth and investments in education are needed 
to protect our prosperity. The conference report now before us rejects 
funding added on the floor of the Senate for three important education 
programs. It not only rejects funding that a majority of this body 
supported but it takes a giant step backward by reducing funding for 
education $3 billion below what was contained within the original 
Senate-passed resolution.
  When I first arrived in Congress, one of the very first bills that I 
had the privilege of working on was the Education of All Handicapped 
Act of 1975. As a freshman Member of Congress, I was proud to sponsor 
that legislation and to be named as a member of the House and Senate 
conference committee along with then Vermont Senator Bob Stafford.
  At that time, despite a clear Constitutional obligation to educate 
all children, regardless of disability, thousands of disabled students 
were denied access to a public education. Passage of the Education of 
All Handicapped Act offered financial incentives to states to fulfill 
this existing obligation. Recognizing that the costs associated with 
educating these children was more than many school districts could bear 
alone, the Federal government pledged to pay 40 percent of the costs of 
educating these students.
  The budget resolution that is before us makes a mockery of this 
pledge. The original Senate budget resolution assumed that the Federal 
government would only fund between 15 and 18 percent of the cost of 
educating disabled students. My amendment to increase this percentage 
was narrowly defeated last week and was then watered down by an 
amendment by my colleague Senator Voinovich. I had hoped, nonetheless, 
that passage of the Voinovich amendment meant that a serious effort 
would be made in conference to increase funding for IDEA. This hope was 
clearly misplaced.
  Let me also speak for a minute about early childhood education.
  Research into the development and growth of the human brain clearly 
demonstrates that learning begins at birth. The sheer magnitude of this 
scientific research is difficult to fathom. When talk turns to 100 
billion neurons or connections with axons and dendrites, confusion is 
the most likely outcome. What this research basically says is something 
that parents and grandparents have know for decades, very young 
children need a nurturing, stimulating environment in order for their 
brains to make the myriad of connections they need to grow into 
competent, caring adults.
  Research on the brain has shown that the years between birth and six 
are critical for future success in school, at work, and in society. I 
believe that education provides the cornerstone from which all other 
things become possible. Our Nation's first educational goal is that all 
children should begin school ready to learn. In order to achieve that 
goal, parents and caretakers need support and assistance to better 
ensure that they have the tools necessary to incorporate early 
childhood learning into the daily lives of our Nation's children. 
Senator Stevens offered an amendment that was adopted by unanimous 
consent that provided mandatory funding for this program. This funding 
was rejected in conference and is not contained within this budget 
resolution.
  Senator Kennedy and I offered an amendment that provided for a $400 
increase in the maximum Pell Grant. These funds make it possible for 
millions of students to attend college each year. Again, this funding 
was rejected in conference and is not contained within this resolution.
  Prosperity also dictates that we redouble our efforts to protect 
society's most vulnerable. Unfortunately, this budget does not go far 
enough to provide drugs to seniors who need them now. I agree with 
Vermonters who tell me that prescription drug costs are too high, and 
that it doesn't make sense for Medicare to cover hospital charges, but 
not cover the drugs that could keep beneficiaries out of the hospital.
  Let me be clear, Mr. President, I believe that we need Medicare 
reform that includes a broad prescription drug benefit. But even if we 
are not able to enact Medicare reform this year, I believe we need to 
provide sufficient funds now, in this budget, that will provide relief 
to Medicare beneficiaries that need help the most--those low-income 
seniors whose income is high enough that they don't qualify for 
Medicaid, but still do not have enough income to afford the 
prescription drugs that they need.
  Mr. President, I am very disappointed with the prescription drug 
provision in this Budget Resolution. I supported the approach of 
Senator Snowe's amendment in the Budget Committee that would have 
provided $40 billion for prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries 
even if Congress is unable to enact Medicare reform. We should not let 
Congress' inability to enact broad Medicare reform stand in the way of 
providing seniors with the medicines that they need to live longer, 
healthier lives.
  I am further dismayed that this budget resolution does not fulfill 
our Nation's commitment to its veterans. Years of underfunding coupled 
with spiraling health care costs have left the veterans health care 
system struggling to provide the quality care that veterans expect and 
deserve. This trend must be stopped and reversed. We owe it to future 
generations to keep federal spending under control. But we must first 
recognize the prior claim of veterans who have already given of 
themselves and who expect to receive the medical care and benefits they 
were promised.
  This budget, like all budgets passed by Congress, is an expression of 
political intent, priorities, and a starting point for bargaining. Much 
work remains to be done to pass the 13 appropriations bills that 
actually fund the government. In areas where I disagree with the budget 
resolution, I plan to work hard with appropriators to adjust spending 
levels and turn this budget into reality.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, the Budget Resolution before us is a 
responsible budget framework. Senator Domenici has done a superb job in 
helping to craft this budget on the Senate side, and he deserves our 
praise. This budget resolution balances the important goals of debt 
reduction, tax relief, and prudent spending levels.

[[Page 5700]]

  Most importantly, the budget will fully protect Social Security now 
and in the future. This represents a sea change in the way business is 
done in Washington. When I came to Washington, Congress routinely spent 
money out of the Social Security trust fund. This resolution ends the 
raid on Social Security, and does so in two ways.
  First, the budget is based on the premise that Social Security funds 
will not be used to pay for additional deficit spending or tax relief. 
Second, as part of this budget's commitment to protect the entire 
Social Security surplus, Senator Domenici included a point of order 
against any budget that spends money out of the Social Security 
surplus. This rule is the same as the one I proposed last year, and 
that was included in the FY 2000 budget.
  As a result of this hard-fought fiscal discipline, this budget will 
retire $1.1 trillion in publicly held debt over 5 years, and 
approximately $170 billion next year. If we continue upon the path laid 
out by this budget, we will completely eliminate the publicly-held debt 
over the next 13 years.
  We have already made great progress in this regard. When this budget 
is enacted, we will have reduced the national debt by $533 billion over 
the past three years.
  I was particularly pleased that the Senate unanimously accepted my 
amendment objecting to the President's plan to have the government 
invest Social Security surpluses in the stock market. This risky scheme 
would have put both Social Security and the stock market at risk.
  In addition to responsibly paying off our publicly-held debt, this 
budget allows for approximately $150 billion in tax relief over 5 
years, including $13 billion in FY 2001. These actions include 
significant marriage penalty relief, which already has passed the 
House, and is working its way through the Senate. In fact, during the 
debate on the Budget Resolution, the Senate passed the Hutchison-
Ashcroft amendment calling for marriage penalty relief 99-1.
  In addition to providing a judicious mix of tax relief, debt 
reduction, and Social Security protection, the FY 2001 Budget 
Resolution also includes responsible spending levels. This budget, 
which is a balanced budget for the third year in a row, calls for 
approximately $600.5 billion in discretionary spending.
  This budget will fully fund Medicare, rejecting President Clinton's 
Medicare cuts of $14 billion over 5 years. In addition, Congress' 
spending plan calls for a $40 billion reserve fund to pay for Medicare 
reform and Medicare prescription drugs.
  As I said, this budget focuses spending towards our national 
priorities, including a $4.5 billion increase in education spending in 
FY 2001, and $5.5 billion in agriculture spending in FY 2000. The FY 
2001 budget also increases funding for domestic priorities such as Head 
Start; embassy security; the National Science Foundation; the National 
Institutes of Health; the Park Service; and highways and airports.
  Of course, this budget isn't perfect. I was disappointed that the 
Senate did not adopt the effort to protect the Medicare surplus with my 
Medicare lockbox amendment. This amendment, which would have extended 
the protections that now apply to Social Security to the Medicare Part 
A Hospital Insurance trust, did not overcome a point of order in the 
Senate.
  Despite this setback, I am pleased with the overall package agreed to 
by Congress. It meets the vital national needs of protecting Social 
Security, reducing debt, cutting taxes, and funding our domestic 
priorities. I plan to vote for the FY 2001 Budget Resolution.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the budget 
resolution conference report. This budget before us today continues the 
momentum we started last year to provide additional funding for defense 
in an effort to correct the most critical readiness, modernization, and 
recruiting and retention problems in our military.
  I thank the Majority Leader, the distinguished chairman of the Budget 
Committee and his staff and the distinguished chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee and his staff, for working with me to provide 
the additional $4.0 billion in much-needed funding for the Department 
of Defense, the reserve for military retiree healthcare, and the 
important language necessary to allow the military thrift savings plan 
to become a reality. I also recognize members of my own committee 
staff--Les Brownlee, Staff Director, Judy Ansley, our Deputy Staff 
Director, and especially Larry Lanzillotta, our Budget Chief--whose 
expertise in budgeting matters is invaluable not only to the Armed 
Services Committee, but to the entire Senate as well.
  The funds which have been added in this Budget Resolution for defense 
are absolutely critical in providing readiness, modernization funding, 
and the personnel incentives necessary to reverse the negative trends 
in recruiting and retention. The increase of $4.0 billion will allow us 
to bring defense spending to a more appropriate level and address some 
of the urgent unfunded requirements of the military chiefs. For too 
many years, the size of our defense budget has been based on 
constrained funding, not on the threats facing our country or the 
military strategy necessary to meet those threats. This budget will go 
a long way in allowing us to ensure the safety and security of our 
people by maintaining a strong and capable military.
  Making the Thrift Savings Plan available to military personnel comes 
at a critical time for the military services. Participation in a thrift 
savings account will encourage personal savings and enhance the 
retirement income for service members, who currently do not have access 
to a 401(k) savings plan. When the TSP program is implemented, military 
personnel will be able to join federal workers in a savings program 
that will enhance the value of their retirement system and permit them 
to improve their quality of life. The Service Chiefs have indicated 
that this plan, combined with the pay raise, the repeal of the Redux 
retirement system, and the increased bonuses in the FY 2000 Defense 
Authorization Act, will reduce the hemorrhage of trained and 
experienced military personnel we are now experiencing.
  The Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the 
Service Chiefs have all said that fulfilling our commitment for 
healthcare to our military retirees should be among the highest 
priorities for this year. I believe there is overwhelming support in 
the Senate to correct many of the shortfalls in the military healthcare 
system for our service members, their families, and our military 
retirees. It is critical that we enact the important initiatives 
contained in the bipartisan healthcare legislation introduced by the 
leadership of the Senate and the leadership of the Armed Services 
Committee earlier this year. This budget resolution makes it possible 
to fund these important health care initiatives for our military 
retirees.
  I want to again express my appreciation to the distinguished Chairman 
of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Stevens, and the Chairman of 
the Budget Committee, Senator Domenici, and also their highly 
professional staff members for assisting us in securing these much-
needed funds in support of a stronger national defense.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, once again, I am trying hard to 
accommodate Senators. I will not use more of our time if they want to 
give back. I have one Senator who has not spoken. I yield 5 minutes to 
Senator Snowe.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of the 
conference report on the fiscal year 2001 budget resolution and to 
highlight a reserve fund that Senator Domenici has been referring to 
with respect to a new prescription drug benefit.
  In advance, I would like to thank the chairman of the Senate Budget 
Committee for his unwavering commitment to a balanced budget and 
fiscally responsible decisionmaking over the years. Thanks to his 
leadership and efforts, the turbulent waves of annual deficits and 
mounting debt have certainly been calmed. And if we adhere to

[[Page 5701]]

the principles as contained in this year's budget resolution, and 
retain these principles in the years to come, clearly, we will have 
provided security for many generations.
  The conference report we are now considering not only maintains 
fiscal discipline but it also ensures that critical priorities are 
protected in fiscal year 2001 and beyond, which is the purpose of the 
balanced budget: to be able to provide a constraint on Federal spending 
but at the same time determine how best to invest in the future.
  I commend the chairman of the Budget Committee for having taken the 
step last year to protect every dollar that belongs to the Social 
Security trust fund and devoting it solely to reducing the publicly 
held debt. Ultimately, this commitment and this conference report will 
ensure that we reduce the publicly-held debt by approximately $1 
trillion over the next 5 years and eliminate it entirely by the year 
2013. Clearly, it is a paradigm shift, not only with respect to the 
fact we are no longer using surpluses that belong to Social Security, 
but also the fact that we are able to reduce the publicly held debt and 
make a commitment to protecting Social Security.
  The second issue in this budget that is critically important is that 
we are making investments where we should be making investments for the 
future--in education, health care, child care, and defense. In 
addition, this budget provides modest tax relief. The American people 
do deserve tax relief, given the burdens they have faced over the years 
to achieve debt reduction, and the constraints we have had to adhere to 
over this last decade. Certainly they deserve to have a piece of that 
pie through the elimination of the marriage tax penalty, through a 
deduction for college tuition expenses and a credit for the interest 
paid on student loans. Those are the priorities that could be 
accommodated in this conference report that the American people 
deserve. I think they are the right priorities.
  Third, as the chairman of the committee has indicated, we have now 
included and have taken a giant step forward in ensuring our Nation's 
seniors have a prescription drug benefit program. Senator Wyden, 
Senator Smith, and I offered an amendment in the committee that would 
have laid out a bifurcated approach that would provide a down-payment 
of $20 billion for a new benefit in the first 3 years, and $20 billion 
in years 2004 and 2005 contingent on Congress moving forward on 
Medicare reform. Of importance, the initial down-payment of $20 billion 
would allow us to move forward in creating a new benefit this year with 
or without Medicare reform--and that structure has been retained in 
this conference report.
  We also included a date certain by which the Senate Finance Committee 
would be required to report a new prescription drug benefit bill. If 
that date was not met, we would be able to proceed with the stand-alone 
prescription drug benefit on the floor. That time certain was dropped.
  But the fact of the matter is, the conference report retains the 
reserve fund language, and we still have the ability to create a stand-
alone prescription drug benefit this year. As a result, the Senate 
Finance Committee still has $20 billion available to develop a 
prescription drug benefit program for our Nation's seniors that is not 
contingent on Medicare reform or other legislation--and an additional 
$20 billion will be made available if they proceed with broader 
Medicare reform.
  Accordingly, I thank Chairman Domenici for his efforts in ensuring 
that provision would be included in the conference report. The 
significance of it is twofold. One is that we have $20 billion that 
would be immediately available for such a benefit. As a result, this 
reserve fund gives us the opening we need to consider and pass a 
prescription drug benefit program this year. Furthermore, it not only 
provides a downpayment for such a benefit over the next 5 years, but it 
also provides an additional $20 billion if we move forward reach a 
consensus on Medicare reform. This total allotment of $40 billion over 
the coming five years is more than was contained in the Chairman's 
mark, and even more than was provided in the President's own budget 
proposal for a prescription drug benefit.
  There are no caveats, there are no conditions. The Senate Finance 
Committee has the ability to proceed with a comprehensive Medicare 
reform package. But in the event they cannot grapple with this issue, 
if they fail to reach a consensus and Congress fails to reach a 
consensus, we can proceed and enact a prescription drug benefit 
program.
  So the overall structure of this fund is the same as it was when we 
offered it as an amendment during the markup, as it was supported 
unanimously by Republicans and Democrats on the Budget Committee. As a 
result, it provides the Finance Committee with both the means and the 
motivation to act on this legislation in a timely manner.
  In conclusion, I again applaud the efforts of the chairman of the 
Budget Committee, Senator Domenici, for preserving the essential 
structure of this reserve fund which enables the Senate and the 
Congress to create a prescription drug benefit in a timely fashion. I 
congratulate him because this is a significant step forward and gives 
us the opportunity, for the first time in a very long time, to enact 
this very significant and critical benefit for our Nation's seniors.
  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I will propound a unanimous consent request. It is 
cleared on the other side.
  I ask unanimous consent vote on adoption of the budget conference 
report occur no later than 6:30 p.m. this evening.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I thank the Chair and Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I conclude my remarks, regretfully noting we 
are leaving without passing the juvenile justice bill conference 
report, without adopting sensible gun control legislation, missing the 
opportunity, I think, to do what the American people want us to do.
  I have long been a supporter of effective gun controls, working hard 
for the Brady bill and for the assault weapons ban while I was in the 
other body. But I have been galvanized to an even more concerted effort 
by an event that took place very recently in Providence. This, I think, 
is an example of the gun violence we face.
  Two young men were horsing around wrestling. One got offended by the 
other one. Unfortunately, this happened in a neighborhood, like so many 
neighborhoods, where it is easier to get a gun than it is to get a 
library book. Someone in the crowd had a handgun. In an act of absolute 
recklessness, one young man fired at the other young man, critically 
wounding him in the head. That young man, the shooter, was so 
distraught that he rushed off and took his own life. That is the face 
of gun violence in too many places in America today.
  We can do something about it. We should do something about it. We 
should not leave until we do something about it. Regretfully, we are 
leaving but we are coming back, I hope, with a renewed commitment to 
ensure we will, in fact, pass the provisions in the juvenile justice 
committee report.
  I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from New Jersey, who has 
particularly championed the legislation to close the gun show loophole.
  I yield to the Senator from New Jersey.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Rhode Island 
for the work he has done on trying to limit the damage from gun 
violence in this country. He reminded us it is time. We are days away 
from April 20, the anniversary of the terrible tragedy at Columbine. We 
are days away. That means in this full year that passed, we could not 
find time to get on with doing our best to control gun violence by 
examining what the possibilities are, by closing the gun show loophole, 
by making sure those who are going to

[[Page 5702]]

apply for gun ownership were fit to do it.
  Here is a picture of a fellow who is on the FBI Ten Most Wanted 
Fugitives list. He could walk up to an unlicensed dealer in a gun show 
and purchase all the guns the money in his pocket can buy. We ought not 
permit that. The American people do not want us to permit that.
  Mr. President, we are closing the debate now. I congratulate my 
friend and colleague from New Mexico for his ardent work on getting 
this done. They have a majority, and the one thing we know about our 
democratic system is if a majority has been sent here by the American 
people, we have to acknowledge that, and they have the choice of a 
majority. I wish we had the majority, and we would be kinder and 
gentler, although I am not sure everybody would agree with that.
  That is the die as it was cast. It was cast by a majority. In the 
process, I see substantial loopholes in this budget conference report. 
It proposes deep cuts in programs such as education and health care, 
law enforcement, veterans benefits, and environmental protection. Also, 
based on just the most simple arithmetic, it is going to raid the 
Social Security surplus, regarding which so many of us have taken an 
oath: Touch not a hair on yon gray Social Security head. Here we are, 
preparing to violate it, even as we present a program for the fiscal 
year 2001.
  They did purport--and I am not talking about as a deception; I am 
talking about it as an analysis of the arithmetic, the mathematics as 
it is there--that prescription drugs were going to be taken care of.
  I read from the conference committee report under the heading of 
prescription drugs. It says: Whenever the Committee on Finance in the 
Senate reports a bill, a joint resolution or conference report thereon 
submitted which improves access to prescription drugs for Medicare 
beneficiaries. It does not say we are going to develop a program that 
is going to make prescription drugs more available, cheaper, et cetera. 
It does not talk about that. It says access. Maybe it means the 
Government is going to produce lists of places where one can buy drugs 
off the Internet cheaper. Maybe access means if you visit country X, Y, 
or Z, you will be able to buy prescription drugs cheaper.
  Access is a broad term. It does not say anything about having to get 
it done, but it does say in the tax section that the Finance Committee 
must reconcile. That means they have to produce a sufficient amount of 
funding for tax breaks for whomever it affects, and this is going to be 
principally the wealthy.
  We leave the prescription drug section and go to the Medicare reform 
on page 48. It says: Whenever the Committee on Finance in the Senate--
they are the people who can do it; we cannot do it in the Budget 
Committee--whenever the Finance Committee reports a bill, joint 
resolution, or conference report thereon submitted which improves the 
solvency of the Medicare program without the use of new subsidies from 
the general fund--to me that says we are going to dip into the Medicare 
trust fund in order to reform Medicare.
  If that is reform, Heaven protect us, keep us from the kind of reform 
that says we will have to take funds from cuts in the Medicare trust 
fund.
  Mr. President, in conclusion, this is my last attempt to work on the 
Federal budget. As disappointed as I am with the outcome, I am pleased 
to say I very comfortably and very forthrightly worked with Senator 
Domenici. He is a distinguished Senator. He knows his subjects, oh, so 
well. I will miss the chance for the fray, but also the chance for the 
pleasant contact we have had through this experience.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Does the Senator from New Jersey yield back his time?
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. I yield back my time.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I am going to respond to the Senator for 
1 minute, and then I will have remarks about the Senator from New 
Jersey and our relationship.
  I say to the distinguished Senator who spoke about the National 
Institutes of Health and what we are going to do and not going to do, 
everybody should know when and by whom the NIH increased in the most 
dramatic manner in its history.
  In the last 3 years, when Republicans controlled both Houses, we 
increased the National Institutes of Health--cancer, AIDS, all those 
diseases--let me give the numbers to my colleagues. Since 1998, NIH has 
increased 40 percent: In 1998, $13.7 billion; in 1999, it was $15.6 
billion. That is a 14-percent increase. In 2000, it went up 13.8 
percent, one of the largest domestic program increases in this whole 
budget. In 2001, this conference report, NIH funding is going to $19.3 
billion. That is an increase of 8 percent. We are doing pretty well 
trying to find cures for serious ailments, thanks to the Republicans 
who in conference and elsewhere pushed so hard for it.
  I ask that it be in order to ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, when Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey 
came to this committee, I do not know if he was like me, but I never 
thought I would be ranking member, much less chairman. I am not sure he 
had a plan to be ranking member, especially when he had to put up with 
me.
  It has been not only a joy, in terms of getting our committee work 
done, but it has been healthy from the standpoint of adversaries who 
believe strongly about their position but understand the other fellow 
can have a different opinion and it is all right, they are OK. That is 
how I feel about him. He has different views than I, but he brought a 
lot of stability to this committee. The minority ought to be very 
grateful for the way he handled matters. They all had a chance to 
contribute.
  Today is his last effort on the floor of the Senate as ranking 
member. I thank him. I hope the whole Senate understands what he has 
done.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, if I may take 1 minute from the time 
remaining of the Senator from Rhode Island. I yielded back all my time.
  I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record documents prepared by 
OMB that explain the impact as they see it.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

 Potential Impact in FY 2001 of the Budget Resolution Conference Report

       The following programmatic impact statements illustrate 
     reductions (by function) to the FY 2001 Budget request 
     contained in the Budget Resolution Conference Report.


          education, training, employment, and social services

       Class Size. The Conference Report appears to freeze the 
     Class Size Reduction program at the FY 2000 level and would 
     therefore prevent the hiring of the third group of teachers 
     meant to reduce class size in grades 1-3, to a nationwide 
     average of 18 students per class. Twenty thousand new 
     teachers could not be hired.
       21st Century Community Learning Centers. The Conference 
     Report could cut $547 million from the President's request, 
     denying approximately 1.6 million school age children in over 
     6,000 new centers access to before- and after-school and 
     summer programs in safe, drug-free environments.
       School Construction. The Budget Resolution Conference 
     Report could eliminate $1.3 billion in loan subsidies and 
     grants to repair 5,000 public schools.
       Small, safe, and drug-free schools. The Conference Report 
     could prevent 400 additional high schools from developing 
     schools-within-schools and career academies that could create 
     smaller, safer learning environments for students. It could 
     also severely compromise the President's proposed 40-
     community expansion of the popular interagency Safe Schools/
     Healthy Students initiative, which supports comprehensive, 
     community-wide approaches to drug and violence prevention, 
     and eliminate Project SERV, an initiative to provide 
     emergency assistance to schools affected by serious violence 
     or other traumatic incidents.
       Funding for the Dislocated Worker program would be cut by 
     about $213 million, denying training, job search assistance, 
     and support services to approximately 118,000 dislocated 
     workers.

[[Page 5703]]

       Adult training services for over 45,000 of the 380,000 
     adults who would otherwise be served in FY 2000 would be 
     eliminated.
       Funding for the Youth Activities Formula Grant program 
     would be cut by about $123 million, denying 73,000 low-income 
     youth summer jobs and training opportunities.
       The Community Service Employment for Older Americans 
     program would be cut by about $57 million. About 12,000 low-
     income older Americans would lose their part-time jobs.
       The budget resolution would cut the Job Corps program by 
     $163 million--preventing Job Corps from opening the final two 
     centers of the recent four center expansion and possibly 
     resulting in the closure of 8-11 additional Job Corps 
     Centers, denying job training opportunities to over 5,000 
     disadvantaged youth.
       Funding for the Youth Opportunity Grants program would be 
     cut by $45 million, denying over 10,000 youth in high-poverty 
     communities access to education, training, and employment 
     assistance.
       A $845 million cut to the President's request would force 
     Head Start to provide services to approximately 70,000 fewer 
     children in FY 2001 than would otherwise be served.
       The 12-percent cut to the Administration on Aging assumed 
     in the Budget Resolution would result in 20 million fewer 
     home-delivered meals to ill and disabled seniors than would 
     otherwise be served.


                   community and regional development

       The final Budget Resolution reduces funding for Community 
     and Regional Development below last year's level and is a 
     decrease of approximately $3 billion from the President's 
     budget. Given the competing demands within this program 
     category, this funding level would almost certainly result in 
     no increase in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 
     program, and would probably end up reducing CDBG funding by 
     eight percent below the President's budget level. This would 
     reduce local communities support of housing activities, 
     including a loss of more than 28,000 people from benefiting 
     from programs providing housing rehabilitation, construction, 
     and homebuyer assistance, and 6,900 fewer jobs being created 
     using CDBG assistance for economic development. The 
     resolution funding level would seriously impair the ability 
     of the New Markets initiatives to provide businesses with 
     funding and assistance, which they would use to invest in low 
     income neighborhoods around the country.
       The Conference Report's funding level would seriously 
     impair the ability of the New Markets initiatives to provide 
     businesses with funding and assistance, which they would use 
     to invest in low-income neighborhoods around the country.
       FEMA Emergency Funding. Contingent emergency appropriations 
     provide a means to make emergency disaster response funding 
     available to handle the disaster activity that is expected to 
     occur, based on recent experience. By stripping out 
     contingent emergency funding from the President's budget 
     request, the Budget Resolution makes it more difficult for 
     the President to release appropriate funding as quickly as 
     possible to enable Federal agencies to respond rapidly when a 
     disaster strikes. Postponing consideration of contingent 
     emergency appropriations until disasters strike could lead to 
     circumstances in which disaster victims are left without 
     shelter and communities are left without critical clean up 
     and rebuilding assistance for days, weeks, and sometimes even 
     months.
       Super-Majority for FEMA Emergencies. Requiring a super-
     majority of the Senate for an emergency appropriation would 
     make it much more difficult for the Federal Government to 
     respond quickly and appropriately to disasters. A super-
     majority requirement could lead to some circumstances in 
     which disaster victims are left without Federal disaster 
     assistance for lengthy periods--and perhaps even some cases 
     in which disaster victims will not receive the assistance 
     they need.


                            income security

       The Budget Resolution explicitly states its intention to 
     provide funding for the renewal of all expiring Section 8 
     housing contracts. However, the large and competing demands 
     on Income Security activities assumed in the Budget 
     Resolution indicate that full renewal funding cannot be 
     achieved within the resolution's functional total. As a 
     result, the resolution would necessitate significant cuts in 
     housing renewals from the President's request of $13 billion. 
     The resolution would also eliminate the Administration's 
     efforts to assist more needy families with 120,000 new 
     incremental housing vouchers. The deletion of new housing 
     assistance would come at a time when a record 5.4 million 
     low-income households in this country have worst-case housing 
     needs--defined as spending over 50 percent of their income in 
     rent or living in substandard housing.


                         international affairs

       International Organizations and Peacekeeping Accounts. A 
     17-percent reduction to funds for the international 
     organizations and peacekeeping accounts would prevent the 
     United States from making its full assessed payments to the 
     UN and other international organizations that directly 
     promote vital U.S. interests. This would substantially 
     increase U.S. arrears to the UN and jeopardize the 
     negotiations for reforms that would lead to the payment of 
     approximately $800 million in arrears. This cut would also 
     cripple continuing and critical new peacekeeping missions 
     seeking to redress the instability and suffering caused by 
     conflicts in East Timor, Kosovo, and Africa.
       African Development Foundation (ADF) and Inter-American 
     Foundation (IAF). The abolition of ADF and IAF would 
     eliminate the only U.S. Government institutions that work 
     exclusively with local, grassroots organizations in Africa 
     and Latin America to expand economic opportunities and 
     develop basic democratic values and institutions.


                           science and space

       Reduced Support for Basic Research. A reduction of about 
     $365 million to NSF would result in almost 14,000 fewer 
     researchers, educators, and students receiving NSF support--
     affecting the high-tech workforce and well-trained students 
     needed for the Nation's future. A reduction of this magnitude 
     would result in over 3,000 fewer awards for state-of-the-art 
     research and education activities.


                           natural resources

       The Budget Resolution would cut farm loan programs at the 
     USDA, resulting in 800 fewer loans to American farmers and 
     ranchers.
       EPA's Superfund program would be cut by $69 million. This 
     would eliminate funding for all 15 new federally-led cleanups 
     and five ongoing federally-led cleanups in FY 2001, 
     needlessly jeopardizing public health for citizens living 
     near affected sites and making it more difficult to meet the 
     900-site cleanup goal in 2002.
       The cut to EPA's Enforcement Program assumed by the Budget 
     Resolution would significantly hamper the environmental cop 
     on the beat, jeopardizing our ability to assure adequate 
     protection of public health and the environment. Nearly, 
     1,000 fewer inspections could contribute to a higher non-
     compliance rate and an increase in pollution.
       The reduction assumed by the Budget Resolution to the 
     Children's Health Initiative would impair efforts to train 
     health care workers on the environmental control of asthma; 
     limit outreach programs to children, parents, and care-givers 
     on avoidance of second-hand smoke and other indoor allergens; 
     and, hinder critical research into the role that pesticides 
     and chemicals may play in the onset of asthma. In addition, 
     EPA's lead program, which focuses on enforcing lead 
     regulations and community-based programs that are aimed at 
     reducing children's exposure to lead, would be curtailed.
       The Budget Resolution reduces most Interior Department and 
     Forest Service programs by six percent below the President's 
     request. Such a reduction would hinder Wildland fire 
     suppression and protection programs, delay or limit the 
     construction and rehabilitation of needed visitor facilities, 
     and diminish the ability to oversee coalmining operations and 
     the ability to assist States and Tribes in cleanup of almost 
     9,000 acres of abandoned mine lands.


                                 health

       Funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could be 
     cut by over $191 million. Such a reduction would result in 
     extended product review times for new vaccines, new food 
     additives, and complex emerging medical technology, making it 
     difficult for the FDA to meet congressionally-mandated 
     performance levels. This reduction would also impede FDA's 
     efforts to ensure the safety of the Nation's food supply and 
     would strain the agency's ability to respond to outbreaks of 
     food borne illness.
       Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
     funding would be reduced by $305 million, which would deny 
     treatment to roughly 66,000 people who receive mental health 
     and substance abuse services.


                             transportation

       A reduction of four percent, or $21 million, below the 
     President's request of $521 million for Amtrak would 
     jeopardize Amtrak's ability to achieve self-sufficiency. The 
     recently announced route expansions would be postponed, and 
     the frequency and level of service on Amtrak's remaining 
     trains reduced. This will further reduce revenues, leading to 
     additional service reductions.


                       administration of justice

       The Budget Resolution rejects the President's $1.335 
     billion request for the 21st Century Policing Initiative 
     (COPS). It does not appear to provide any funds for the 
     hiring of additional police officers, or for community crime 
     prevention programs, and it is well below the President's 
     request for law enforcement technology and gun prosecution. 
     Without continued funding for the COPS hiring program, it 
     will be impossible to meet the President's goal of funding up 
     to 150,000 additional officers by 2005.


                           general government

       IRS. The Budget Resolution assumes cuts in the IRS's 
     resources by $1.2 billion below the President's Budget--
     nearly $0.8 billion below the level needed to maintain 
     current operations. The IRS would lose 12,000 workers needed 
     to provide service to taxpayers and to ensure that the tax 
     laws are enforced fairly. IRS modernization efforts mandated

[[Page 5704]]

     by the 1998 Restructuring and Reform Act would be halted. 
     Instead of the improvements in performance proposed in the 
     President's budget, audit rates--which have already fallen by 
     half over the past decade--would drop to unacceptable levels. 
     Taxpayers would face greater frustration, and the Treasury 
     would lose billions of dollars in enforcement revenue. Such a 
     dramatic cut in both compliance efforts and taxpayer service 
     would put at risk the voluntary compliance system, which 
     collects over $1.7 trillion in revenue each year.

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I thank Senator Domenici. I thank 
staff in the person of Bill Hoagland and Bruce King on my side.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I yield back my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has been yielded back. The question 
is on agreeing to the conference report. The yeas and nays have been 
ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Roth) is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from New York (Mr. Moynihan) is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?--
  The result was announced--yeas 50, nays 48, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 85 Leg.]

                                YEAS--50

     Abraham
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Campbell
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeWine
     Domenici
     Enzi
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Roberts
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Voinovich
     Warner

                                NAYS--48

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Bryan
     Byrd
     Chafee, L.
     Cleland
     Conrad
     Daschle
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Harkin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCain
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Specter
     Torricelli
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Moynihan
     Roth
       
  The conference report was agreed to.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished chairman of the 
Budget Committee, Senator Domenici, and the ranking member, Senator 
Lautenberg, for their work on the budget resolution, and for the way 
they have handled it throughout the process.

                          ____________________