[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 22949]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            FISCAL PRUDENCE

  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I listened to the comments of the Senator 
from Alabama with interest.
  I want to inform my colleagues that despite the rhetoric we have 
heard it is important to remember that the funds that we have 
recommended in the fiscal year 2010 appropriations bills are in 
accordance with the level provided to the committee in the budget 
resolution.
  Second, each one of the bills that he mentioned was approved by the 
committee by unanimous, or near unanimous, votes.
  Third, each of the bills considered by the Senate so far this year 
have been approved at the funding level that the Senator has noted.
  In addition, in most cases--in the Transportation and Interior bills 
for example--the level of funding approved by the committee is lower 
than the amount requested by the administration.
  We are all concerned about deficits and overspending, but the root 
cause of this problem is not in discretionary domestic spending.
  The cause was the failed policies of the previous administration that 
ran up trillions in our national debt.
  To remind my colleagues when President Bush was elected the country 
had a budget surplus. After 8 long years, the country inherited an 
unprecedented national debt.
  What is even worse, the Obama administration and the Nation also 
inherited a fiscal crisis unseen since Herbert Hoover.
  While I understand and share the concern of many of my colleagues 
over our Nation's debt, they have set their sights on the wrong target. 
The increases in discretionary spending will reverse the neglect which 
occurred in the previous administration and will help put people back 
to work.
  The Appropriations Committee will continue to work in a bipartisan 
fashion to recommend bills which are fiscally prudent and within the 
amounts recommended by this Senate.

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