[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20159-20160]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SENATE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, last year we made a promise to the American 
people. If we were elected to the majority, we would get Washington 
working again for American families. Republicans in the Senate have 
been focused on putting our country on not just another course but a 
better course. This will allow us to begin rebuilding the trust of 
hard-working taxpayers who have seen their government become less 
effective and less accountable.
  Over the course of this year, as the Senate got back to work, the 
American people got to see something that had been missing from this 
side of the Capitol over the past 8 years; that is, an open and 
transparent legislative process. This included Members from both sides 
of the aisle offering, debating, and ultimately voting on amendments to 
not just our balanced budget resolution and reconciliation proposal but 
to a whole host of legislative measures. Leader McConnell promised 
this, it is happening, and bills are passing because people on both 
sides of the aisle are having an opportunity to represent their 
constituents, to get votes on amendments.
  The previous year we had 15 total votes on amendments. This year we 
have already had 192 votes on amendments, and the year is not over. So 
instead of allowing political points and partisan gridlock to take 
precedence over responsible governing, we are once again doing the 
people's business, and the Senate Budget Committee played an important 
role.
  We had the first balanced budget in 14 years. Yes, Congress this year 
approved its first balanced 10-year budget since 2001. Americans who 
work every day to provide for their families and pay their taxes 
understand that it is time for the Federal Government to live within 
its means, just as they do. Hard-working taxpayers know they can't live 
on borrowed money, and neither can our Federal Government. This 
balanced budget approved by Congress shows these families that if they 
can do it, so can we. Our goal is to make our government more 
efficient, effective, and accountable. If government programs are not 
delivering results, they should be improved, and if they are not needed 
they should be eliminated.
  A balanced budget would also help America tame its exploding debt, 
which today totals almost $19 trillion. Every dollar spent on interest 
on our debt is another dollar we won't be able to use for government 
services, for individuals in need or another dollar that won't be 
available for taxpayers for their own needs. Washington must live 
within its means, just as every hard-working family does every day, and 
we have to deliver a more effective and accountable government to the 
American people that supports them when it

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must and gets out of the way when it should.
  To get our country and economy back on track, Americans must be 
allowed to spend more time working to grow their businesses or to 
advance in their jobs instead of worrying about taxes and inefficient 
and ineffective regulations. We want to empower our job creators to 
find new opportunities to expand our economy and, most importantly, 
assure that each and every American has the opportunity to find a good-
paying job and a fulfilling career.
  This is why the balanced budget also provided for repeal of the 
President's unprecedented expansion of government intrusion into health 
care decisions for hard-working families and small businesses. Our goal 
is to lift the burdens and higher costs ObamaCare has placed on all 
Americans.
  ObamaCare is saddling American households with more than $1 trillion 
in new taxes over the next 10 years, and according to the Congressional 
Budget Office, ObamaCare will cost taxpayers more than $116 billion a 
year. For every American, ObamaCare has meant more government, more 
bureaucracy, and more rules and regulations, along with soaring health 
costs and less access to care.
  The budget reconciliation legislation passed by the Senate will 
eliminate more than $1 trillion in tax increases placed on the American 
people, while saving more than $400 billion in spending. Most 
importantly, this bill begins to build a bridge from the President's 
broken promises to a better health care system for hard-working 
families across the country.
  The Senate Budget Committee is an important resource for facts and 
information about the congressional budget process and the economy. 
That is why my committee recently began publishing its budget bulletin 
again, to provide regular expert articles by committee analysts on the 
issues before Congress relating to the budget, deficits, debt, and the 
economy. This year the bulletin has addressed the highway trust fund 
debate; defense spending, BCA caps, and OCO special funding; 
reconciliation and the Byrd Rule; budget enforcement and points of 
order; the appropriations process, which is the spending bills; the 
debt limit debate; and the 2016 continuing resolution.
  Another important part of the committee's work is to increase 
oversight and transparency surrounding congressional spending. This is 
why I directed the Congressional Budget Office to release regular 
reports tracking the budgetary impact of enacted legislation against 
the fiscal year 2016 balanced budget resolution the Republican Congress 
approved. I have provided these reports after each recess work period 
in order to provide a status update on Congress's progress achieving 
the budget resolution plan.
  Regularly providing information such as this will help foster fiscal 
transparency in the Federal spending process, and over time it will 
encourage a heightened awareness in the importance of complying with 
the budget. It will also help ensure that Congress remains focused on 
fiscal responsibility.
  The recent omnibus spending and debt deal clearly illustrates that 
the Federal budget process is in serious need of reform, which is why 
the Senate Budget Committee this year has also focused on fixing our 
broken budget process.
  Instilling the Federal budget process with regular action and 
predictability, active legislative oversight and spending transparency 
are critical to strengthening our democracy and reducing our Nation's 
unsustainable spending and debt.
  We often talk about the threat America's growing debt poses to our 
economy and our future, but the growth in Federal regulations also 
poses a threat to long-term economic growth and job creation. The 
committee this year has been working to shine a light on these 
regulations and the burden they have on each and every American. It is 
critical for lawmakers and hard-working Americans to understand the 
true cost of regulations that are being issued by the administration. 
Taming our ``regulation nation'' will help ensure that the Federal 
Government works for the people, instead of people working for the 
government.
  These aren't the only things that the Senate accomplished. I was 
proud to be a part of the Finance Committee's efforts to replace the 
doc fix so that doctors could be paid properly and Medicare recipients 
would be able to see doctors, also to enact trade promotion authority 
legislation, to increase trade that increases dollars to the United 
States, and also to finance the highway trust fund. I was proud to be a 
part of the effort of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 
Committee to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 
and I commend my chairman for his work on those bills.
  Today I also want to acknowledge Senator Cochran's work to lead the 
Appropriations Committee in reporting all 12 appropriations bills for 
the first time since 2012. Incidentally, they stayed within the budget 
on those, and most were bipartisan. It is the first time all 12 
appropriations bills have been voted out of committee since 2012. I 
want to thank Senator Murkowski for her work on energy issues, 
including the Keystone Pipeline bill, and Senator Cornyn, for his 
efforts to protect victims of trafficking.
  I was also proud to work this year on some issues important to my own 
State of Wyoming by pushing back on the administration's Clean Power 
Plan and waters of the United States rule, primarily designed to 
eliminate the use of coal and drive up the price of electricity in this 
country, which in essence will cost the average American a lot more for 
their electricity. Just as importantly, it will send jobs overseas 
where the energy costs less.
  This year Congress also corrected a problem that the 2012 highway 
bill created for Wyoming, and I commend Senator Barrasso for his 
efforts on that. I also want to thank Senators McCain and Isakson for 
their work to support our troops and our veterans. I appreciate Senator 
McCain working with me to ensure small businesses have the help they 
need to compete for Federal contracts.
  This isn't an exhaustive list. There are several more things. We 
passed over 80 bills this year. But these are some of the things we can 
be proud of. The Senate is under new management, and these 
accomplishments and others still to come show hard-working taxpayers 
that Republicans in the Senate are working to deliver a more effective 
and accountable government, a government for the people and by the 
people that supports them when it must and gets out of the way when it 
should. We have made great progress this year, but there is still more 
to be done. By working together, we are proving that we can deliver 
real solutions and real progress that the American people want and 
deserve.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.

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