[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16713]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




NOMINATION OF JOSHUA BOLTEN TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT 
                               AND BUDGET

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise in support of Joshua Bolten as 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and to urge Mr. Bolten 
to do everything within his power to help put the Federal budget back 
on sound footing.
  The position of OMB Director is always one of the most demanding 
posts in our Government, but it is especially so right now. The tax 
cuts pushed through by the President over the last 2\1/2\ years, 
combined with the continuing economic slowdown and increased spending 
to respond to the September 11 terrorist attacks and prosecute the 
military efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, have pushed the budget deep 
into deficit. And despite the fact that we desperately need to get our 
fiscal house in order to be ready for the imminent retirement of the 
baby-boom population, this administration and its allies in Congress 
have not yet accepted that the policies they have advocated are leading 
us in the wrong direction.
  I support the nomination of Joshua Bolten as OMB Director because I 
believe he is a very capable and honorable man, with a distinguished 
record both in public service--including service as a Senate staffer--
and in the private sector. I sincerely hope he will take to heart the 
duty of the OMB Director to be an advocate for fiscal responsibility--
to be willing to present the President with the facts where the budget 
is heading even if those facts are unpleasant, and to recommend 
policies to the President that will put the budget back on a 
sustainable path even if those policies may be politically difficult.
  In a written response to a question by the Governmental Affairs 
Committee, Mr. Bolten reiterated the position of the Bush 
administration about the deficits facing us, stating that: ``Our 
current deficit--as measured as a percentage of gross domestic product 
(GDP)--is not large by historical standards and is manageable within 
the overall context of our economy.''
  I hope when Mr. Bolten assumes his post as head of OMB, he recognizes 
the reality of the budget situation and leads the administration to 
reassess that position. That reality is that the deficit we are 
currently facing is enormous by any standard. According to CBO, the 
total deficit will exceed $400 billion this year, more than $100 
billion higher than the all-time record deficit of $290 billion 
recorded in 1992. As a percentage of GDP, the deficit will be about 4 
percent, a level that has been reached only eight times in the 57 years 
since the end of World War II. More troubling, when Social Security is 
excluded from the calculation, this year's deficit is likely to total 
about 5.5 percent--a level reached only twice in the last 57 years.
  I hope Mr. Bolten accepts how serious the budget situation is and how 
important it is that we do not delay beginning to deal with the 
situation. I hope that he will advise the President to work with the 
Congress in a truly bipartisan way to reach agreement on and enact 
policies that will put the budget back on track.

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