[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3932-3933]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I would like to say that this 110th 
Congress, when we came here, Democrats and Republicans alike had a real 
problem because the last Congress only funded the Government until 
February 15. With cooperation between Democrats and Republicans, 
difficult negotiations took place, but it was a situation where 
Senators Cochran and Byrd, who lead us in the Appropriations Committee, 
working with Chairman Obey on the other side of the Capitol, together 
with all ranking members and all chairs of the subcommittees on both 
sides, worked through these difficult issues. And they were difficult. 
We had not enough money to do all that is necessary to be done, but we 
got it done without a single earmark. I know this was difficult.
  There are issues that are so troubling. There is a Senator on the 
other side of the aisle, Johnny Isakson from Georgia. I don't know how 
you could find a nicer person in the world than Johnny Isakson. He is 
pleasant. He always has a smile on his face. He has an issue that is 
really important to him concerning children and health--something that 
should be in this bill. It is not.
  Kay Bailey Hutchison, the senior Senator from Texas, has an issue 
dealing with BRAC that has bipartisan support. There are bases that we 
legislated closure for, and communities are having difficult times as a 
result of these base closures doing all that needs to be done, and we 
promised them money to allow these closures to go forward without as 
much concern and real hardship. But there wasn't anything we could do. 
If we had a single amendment on this bill, it had to go back for 
conference.
  As a result of that, it would mean that very likely we couldn't 
complete this by tomorrow night at midnight. I have made commitments to 
a number of people that we are going to take care of these things in 
the supplemental which should be here the last week in March, and I am 
going to do everything I can to make sure the process on the 
supplemental is as open and free as people think it should be. We will 
be as patient as we can be to work our way through this. I have told 
the distinguished Republican leader that vehicle will be open to 
amendments.
  So I think we have done very good work. Legislation is the art of 
compromise and consensus building, and I appreciate very much the 
Republicans supporting this. There were some who didn't and I 
understand that and I understand why. What we did yesterday in invoking 
cloture on this bill is a step forward to allowing us to get the 
country's financial affairs in order. I have talked to Senator Byrd. I 
have spoken to Senator Cochran. I have spoken to the distinguished 
Republican leader. We are all going to do our very utmost this year to 
get appropriations bills done. We are going to be able to do that now 
that this CR is going to be out of the way either today early on or, if 
we can't work anything out, when the time expires tonight.
  So, again, I want to express my appreciation publicly to everyone who 
worked on this matter. There were people who voted against the bill who 
were a part of the process of working things out. I have spent time on 
this issue with the senior Senator from New Mexico. I have spent a lot 
of time with him. He and I did that Energy and Water Subcommittee for 
many years as chairman and ranking member. We went back and forth. He 
didn't get everything he wanted, but he got quite a bit. I am not going 
to go through the whole rollcall of others with whom we worked on this 
to try to make it as easy a slide as possible. But anyway I am glad it 
is done. It is good for the country.

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