[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 2975-2976]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          THOUGHTFUL BUDGETING

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, in a few minutes the Senate will gather 
here to vote on the continuing resolution which funds our Federal 
Government, in this case for 2 weeks. It is hard to believe we have 
reached that point in Washington where we are going to fund our 
government 2 weeks at a time. Critics may look at us and say that 
certainly the men and women who serve in the House and Senate ought to 
be able to gather together, to sit down like adults, Democrats and 
Republicans, and really plot the spending and budget for our government 
for at least the remaining 7 months of this year. It does not seem like 
an unreasonable request. Instead, we appear to be lurching from 1 month 
to 2 weeks, and I don't know what is next.
  What is at issue is how much money will be spent in the remainder of 
this year and whether we will follow the House lead in a bill known as 
H.R. 1, the House budget bill, which made $100 billion in cuts for the 
remainder of this year. The Senate has already made some $41 billion in 
cuts in an effort to use these spending cuts to reduce the deficit, but 
the House wants to move that to a higher level.
  I just returned this past week from a visit to my State when we had a 
week of recess and went from one end of the State to the other to 
measure the House budget cuts and their impact on my State of Illinois. 
What I found is, in community after community, many of the cuts that 
were made by the House were not done in a thoughtful manner.
  I was a member of the deficit commission. I acknowledge we have to 
deal with this deficit in a timely and serious way. I was 1 of the 11 
who voted for the commission report, and I stand by the commission 
report, at least in its goal to bring all of our spending on the table 
and to look at it seriously so we bring this deficit down and not 
saddle our children and grandchildren with this obligation to pay off 
our debt. But we took a measured, thoughtful approach and engaged all 
levels of government spending to reach our goal.
  The House took 14 percent of the Federal budget, the so-called 
domestic

[[Page 2976]]

discretionary section, and made all the cuts there--all of them. As a 
result, they went too far. Let me give an example of how they went too 
far.
  My last visit was to the Argonne National Laboratory outside of 
Chicago. I had representatives there from the Fermilab, a national 
accelerator laboratory in the same region. The resulting cuts from the 
House budget will reduce the amount of money available for those two 
key national laboratories by 20 percent. That sounds painful but not 
crippling; yet it is because it is a cut that has to take place in 7 
months.
  In the Argonne National Laboratory, they will have to lay off one-
third of their scientists and support staff and cut back their research 
by 40 to 50 percent for the remainder of this year. Well, so what. What 
difference would it make? Here is the difference. Right now, the 
Argonne National Laboratory is doing critical research and work in 
areas of innovation. Where is the fastest computer in the world today? 
Good old USA, right? No. The fastest computer in the world today is in 
China. We have been doing research to make sure we develop the next 
``fastest computer.'' It is not just bragging rights either; it is 
developing the technology that helps us develop our economy and develop 
our businesses and create jobs.
  Part of this laboratory, the Advanced Photon Source, brings in 
pharmaceutical companies from all over the United States that test 
drugs that cure disease. They do it right there, Argonne National 
Laboratory.
  I asked the person from Eli Lily what happens if they close down for 
the next 6 months.
  He said: I don't know where we will go. We may have to go overseas.
  I said: Where?
  Well, Europe, he said, or perhaps India or China.
  Time and again, there is a recurring theme here. When we back off of 
an investment in America, our competitors have an advantage and an 
opportunity. That is why the House budget was so shortsighted to cut 
back in research and innovation.
  The day before, I had gone to the Northwestern University Cancer 
Research Center and met with 50 or 60 medical doctors and researchers 
who said the cuts in the House budget would force them to lay off 
medical researchers for the remainder of this year. Is there anyone 
among us who has not had a moment in life when someone sick in their 
family needs help? You look for the best doctor and best hospital and 
ask that question we all would ask: Doctor, is there anything going on? 
Is there a drug we can turn to? Is there some experimental opportunity 
here?
  The clinical trials that are part of the National Institutes of 
Health will be cut back by 20 percent during the remainder of this 
year. The oncologist at the Southern Illinois University School of 
Medicine said: I have 100 people suffering from cancer who are gravely 
ill, and unfortunately I can only put 80 of them in a clinical trial 
because of these budget cutbacks. Senator, which ones should I turn 
away?
  That is why the decisions on cutting money should require more than 
just bragging rights of how much you cut. We should be thoughtful. We 
should not cut education and training; that is tomorrow's workforce. 
The Pell grants that are denied today stop children, young people from 
low-income families, from going to school and getting an education and 
being prepared for the workforce. The cutback in innovation and 
research we have seen here with this House budget goes too far. The 
idea that we cannot invest in basic infrastructure for America so our 
economy moves forward is so shortsighted.
  Today, we are likely, by a strong bipartisan vote, to extend the 
budget of the U.S. Government for 2 weeks. In the meantime, we have to 
sit down and be honest, honest about reducing the deficit in a 
thoughtful way that does not cripple our economy, that does not kill 
basic research, that does not stop the job training and education we 
need for the workforce of the 21st century because, I will tell you 
this, if we don't think about it carefully, our competitors around the 
world, particularly the No. 2 economy in the world today--China--will 
have an opportunity for a toehold and an opportunity to move forward at 
the expense of American businesses and American workers.
  In this recession, with 15 million Americans out of work, we cannot 
afford to make the wrong decision on our budget. We have to sit down 
and make the right decision, carefully cutting waste and inefficiency--
and there is plenty of it--but not cutting the essential services of 
our government that will build our economy and give us a chance to 
succeed in the future.
  Mark Zandi, who is with Moody's, has said that H.R. 1, the House 
budget, will literally kill 700,000 jobs in America. With 15 million 
Americans out of work, is that the best Congress can do? I don't think 
so. Let's be thoughtful about what we are going to do. Let's make sure 
we get this economy moving forward and creating good-paying jobs for 
Americans so we can walk into a store someday, pick up a product, flip 
it over, and smile when we read ``Made in the U.S.A.'' Wouldn't that be 
a great thing to prepare for by spending our money, investing our 
resources today for the workforces and businesses of tomorrow?

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