[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1259]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is true we have the President's budget, 
the eighth one, the eighth and last budget from this President. To 
think anyone has the audacity to suggest this deficit will be gone in 5 
years following the President's plan is almost laughable, a man who has 
run this country from a $7 trillion surplus over 10 years to now 
approaching $12 trillion or $13 trillion in debt.
  The Presiding Officer knows as much about the military as anyone 
serving in Congress, having been a distinguished combat veteran in the 
Marine Corps and Secretary of the Navy. No one is more supportive of 
the military, than the Presiding Officer. I try to be also. The Defense 
budget I get from morning reports, without having seen the budget, but 
the press has reported the Defense budget will now be approaching $700 
billion this coming year. But there is not a single penny in this 
budget for the war in Iraq. That is in addition to this request. We are 
told that in less than 2 years, the cost of the war in Iraq will be $1 
trillion, borrowed money from China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico. And, 
of course, it has been long pronounced this budget of the President's 
will have cuts in Medicare.
  The President had us over a barrel last year on the appropriations 
bills because we did not want another continuing resolution. We did not 
want another continuing resolution. But he does not have us over a 
barrel this year because either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama will 
be the President in less than a year. If we have to deal with a CR next 
year, we will deal with it. We will finish that by the end of January. 
We will whip through that CR in a short time. We are not going to be 
held hostage to the unreasonableness of this President--cutting NIH, 
cutting the COPS Program. What is that? Law enforcement to bring down 
crime rates in our country as it has--the damage to the cities that has 
already taken place because of the priorities that are so misarranged 
in this budget that he suggests to us.
  Education--I brought the Teacher of the Year here to watch the State 
of the Union Address. She is devastated by what the No Child Left 
Behind legislation has done, with the President not living up to what 
he said he would do in funding it.
  I am glad the budget is here. It is part of the law. I look forward 
to working with our colleagues and hope we can do a better job with our 
appropriations bills than last year. But I repeat, we are not going to 
be held hostage by the unreasonableness of the White House. I hope we 
can work together and get some bills passed. The appropriators want to 
do that. We have now, with the ethics and lobbying bill passed, 
transparency in everything we do.
  I also express my appreciation to Senator Whitehouse for being here 
to start work on the FISA bill.
  I have said this before and I say it now to my friend who is the 
manager for the FISA bill for the Republicans, how much we appreciate 
his devotion to the intelligence matters of this country.

                          ____________________