[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15834]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 BIPARTISANSHIP ON APPROPRIATIONS BILLS

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, as the Senate prepares to adjourn until 
September, I thank the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee 
who have worked so hard to report nine bills from committee for the 
fiscal year that begins on October 1. In particular, I thank my 
distinguished colleague, the ranking member on the full committee, Ted 
Stevens and the chairmen and ranking members for the five bills that 
have passed the Senate.
  The five chairmen and ranking members include Senator Barbara 
Mikulski and Senator Kit Bond on the VA/HUD and Independent Agencies 
bill, Senator Harry Reid and Senator Pete Domenici on the Energy and 
Water bill, Senator Patty Murray and Senator Richard Shelby on the 
Transportation bill, Senator Richard Durbin and Senator Robert Bennett 
on the Legislative Branch bill and Senator Conrad Burns on the Interior 
bill.
  We have a longstanding tradition on the Appropriations Committee of 
working together on a bipartisan basis to produce the thirteen 
appropriations bills. This year, we established a goal of reporting 
nine bipartisan and fiscally responsible bills prior to the August 
recess. We have met this challenge. I thank my good friend Ted Stevens 
for his leadership in helping us meet this goal.
  Based on that tradition of bipartisanship, the transition in party 
leadership on the Appropriations Committee was seamless. The hard work 
of the committee to produce 13 bills preceded the transition and 
continued after I assumed the chairmanship and the committee was 
reorganized on July 10, 2001. This is a credit to all of our colleagues 
and our dedicated staff who have labored unceasingly to bring these 
bills to the Senate.
  Producing the fiscal year 2002 appropriations bills has been a 
particular challenge this year. With the election of a new President, 
the President's budget was sent to the Congress on April 9, 2001, 2 
months later than in a normal year. When we received the President's 
budget, it included a number of proposed reductions in discretionary 
programs. We have scrutinized the budget and where appropriate we 
accepted the proposed cuts, but in other cases we had to restore cuts 
in programs that have broad bipartisan support in the Senate.
  Restoring these cuts, while funding programs that are important to 
all Americans, has been very difficult, given the very tight limits on 
discretionary spending contained in the budget resolution. I did not 
vote for that budget resolution, but we have worked together on a 
bipartisan basis to produce bills that are within their 302(b) 
allocations. We do not have unlimited resources at our disposal, so we 
have been forced to make difficult decisions. Nevertheless, we believe 
the bills that the committee brought to the Senate have been fair, 
balanced, and served the needs of the American people.
  We have held the line while making sure that we kept our promise to 
our Nation's veterans, we have helped the poor move to a better life by 
rebuilding neighborhoods, we have protected the environment and 
invested in science and technology and we have funded disaster relief 
programs in response to floods and other natural disasters to provide 
assistance to our citizens in their time of need.
  We have funded our Nation's transportation systems to promote safe 
travel on our roads, in the air and on our waterways. We have invested 
in our Nation's energy independence and funded our natural resource 
programs. We have invested in our Nation's infrastructure for bridges 
and dams and navigation projects.
  I thank the many Senators who have dedicated themselves to this task 
and I look forward to working to send thirteen bipartisan and fiscally 
responsible appropriations bills to the President. I have spoken with 
the House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young and the Ranking 
Member David Obey and urged them to move quickly to conference on the 
appropriations bills. I had pressed the House to complete conference 
action on two of the bills before the August recess, but the House did 
not name their conferees. However, our staffs will be working during 
August to resolve differences between the House and Senate bills so 
that we can go to conference on several of these bills when Congress 
returns in September.
  I am committed to producing 13 bills this year. We should not go down 
the road employed in recent years of producing omnibus appropriations 
bills that rob Members of the opportunity to read, let alone understand 
the contents of the bill. We intend to work together on a bipartisan 
basis to meet the challenges that lay before us.

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