[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 16259-16260]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           THE SENATE AGENDA

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, all of us are pleased to be back, able to 
go on and finish the business we have yet to do. There is a lot of it, 
of course. I have read from time to time that we have been on vacation. 
I have to tell you, it is scarcely a vacation. All of us spend this 
time, as we should, traveling in our States and visiting with the 
people we represent. Frankly, it is a real pleasure and honor to travel 
about Wyoming this time of year. It is important that we reflect on 
what we have heard, some of the issues laid before us, some of the 
notions of the people at home. After all, it is our responsibility to 
be here to represent those people.
  There are a number of things we all hear about and hear about 
repeatedly while we are in our States. One of them is the tax issue, 
the idea of tax reduction, and specifically the returns that have been 
made during this period of time. Many people have received their $600 
or $300. I heard a great deal about that. I heard a great deal of 
praise and support for tax relief, having an opportunity to receive 
those dollars that were deemed to be surplus. They were not dollars 
that belonged to Washington; they were dollars that belonged to the 
taxpayers.
  I heard that quite often. Frankly, I was very pleased to hear that 
and also to share the belief that the return of tax dollars certainly 
is appropriate in a time of a slowing-down economy.
  We also hear a great deal about budgets. Most people do understand 
that, depending on your point of view about the size of government and 
the involvement of government, sticking to budgets is a very important 
issue. Of course, it is very significant now as we enter into this last 
month. We are supposed to pass all the appropriations bills and come up 
with next year's spending outline during these next several weeks. That 
is a relatively short time to do that.
  The majority of people I spoke with said: You passed a budget; stay 
with the budget and a 4 percent increase, which is a reasonable 
increase; stay with it. Of course, that is not what we have done over 
the last number of years. I think that shows a good deal of knowledge 
about what is happening.
  In Wyoming, where we are involved in the production of energy, 
whether it be gas or oil or coal, there is a great deal of interest in 
energy policy. That is something we have not had for a very long time. 
The President set one forth and, as a matter of fact, the House has 
passed an energy bill. We have not. It is one of the issues that ought 
to be a priority. The folks at home indicated to me it ought to be a 
priority.

[[Page 16260]]

  When we first started talking about energy 6 or 8 months ago, 
California was undergoing an energy shortage. It certainly seemed that 
it was a crisis. Then we got over that a little bit; some of the gas 
prices began to go down some, although they are coming back up again 
now, but the problem still remains. We have not resolved the energy 
problem at all. I hope that will be a high priority for us during these 
closing weeks. Some of us had hoped it would have been a priority 
before now, but it has not been. Now I think it is clear it needs to 
be.
  One of the other things I heard a great deal about, which I suppose 
is a little different in a State such as Wyoming where 50 percent of 
the State belongs to the Federal Government, is that this 
administration has indicated and is beginning to demonstrate that they 
are willing and anxious to have more local input into the decisions 
that affect public land and affect the people who live by and depend on 
public land. That is not saying it is going to protect the environment. 
It says that each area, each park, and each forest is unique, and to 
try to set nationwide standards from Washington, as has been done in 
the recent past, is not a workable situation. Our folks are very 
pleased about that.
  Finally, I will take a moment to say, as someone who feels some 
responsibility, that I like the idea that we are paying down the debt. 
That is good.
  We have a number of things to do. Certainly this whole business of 
appropriations needs to be done.
  I have already mentioned energy.
  I hope we are able to work some more on simplifying and making 
Medicare a little more workable and putting pharmaceuticals into it. We 
are working on that, of course, in the Finance Committee, and we will 
continue to do so. There are dollars in the budget to do those things.
  Education: We need to complete our work on education, of course. 
Sometimes it seems the only solution to education is the dollars. 
Dollars are necessary, but dollars alone do not work. We need to have 
some accountability. We need to have some local control.
  In any event, I think we have some real challenges before us and an 
opportunity to accomplish them. Frankly, I am a little discouraged 
about what I read and hear--that we are entering into a time when many 
people, particularly I think on the other side of the aisle, are more 
interested in developing issues for their upcoming campaigns than they 
are in solving the problems. I hope that is not the case. We are trying 
to, of course, work towards midterm, which becomes very political, a 
little more than a year from now. Politicking is fine, issues are fine, 
but when a political issue becomes more important than resolving the 
problem before us, I think that is a mistake. I think we are going to 
see some of that.
  Certainly, there are different views about how we go forward. There 
is no question about that. Some in this body, of course, want more 
government. Some want more spending. Some are very sorry about tax 
relief because it may reduce the spending.
  I have to tell you that I think we really ought to stay within the 
budget we passed, which is about a 4-percent increase. I hope we don't 
go back to last year's history and increase it by 14 or 15 percent. I 
think that is a mistake. Certainly, things are a little different now 
when we are faced with this slowing of the economy.
  Speaking of the political issue, back in April, for example, there 
was a lot of talk about tax relief. There was a Democrat amendment to 
increase the amount of tax relief to $85 billion. It was defeated by 94 
to 6. In July there was another Democrat amendment that would repeal 
the immediate tax rebate. It failed 91 to 3.
  The idea that there is now an effort to move some responsibility to 
the White House for added tax reduction and so on is just not the case. 
It is just a political kind of issue. We hear all kinds of political 
views in the Senate, and various Senators on the other side of the 
aisle have said it should have been larger and kicked in sooner. Some 
are using radio programs to say to their constituents that this was a 
great thing to do. Indeed, it was.
  We are going to have a lot of talk about the surplus, of course, and 
about the differences between OMB and the Congressional Budget Office. 
The fact is that both sets of figures show that this is the second 
largest surplus in history. It is. The new numbers, of course, really 
say that what is most important is that we do not have irresponsible 
spending. If we can follow the budget we passed and say that is what we 
want to do, then we will be in good shape.
  The President's budget protects Social Security and Medicare. 
Besides, the surplus, frankly, has no impact on those trust funds. The 
President's priorities are to protect Social Security and Medicare. We 
are going to improve Medicare to help seniors. We are going to work on 
that.
  We are paying down a good deal of publicly held debt. Sometimes we 
have to review what happens to a surplus. If we use it to pay down 
publicly held debt, then debts are created for the various programs 
under the trust funds. That is the way it works. It is the only place 
to put the money to have a return on the money that is there and 
meeting the needs that are set forth.
  I hope we can hold the political rhetoric to a minimum and deal with 
the real issues and the fact that we have the second largest surplus in 
history. Besides, the budget surplus really has no impact on the trust 
funds. It has been that way over the years. We have to pay down a 
historic amount of publicly held debt and work to foster economic 
growth. That is one of the ways to do that.
  I see my friend from Iowa is here.
  I urge setting those issues before us and moving to resolve them in a 
fashion that is best for this country.
  I yield the floor.

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