Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, yesterday this Chamber passed a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, another bipartisan accomplishment that without a doubt has helped return this Chamber to operating the way that I think we all believe it should function. After that, today we were finally able to move forward with an energy bill, the Energy Policy Modernization Act. We have all been working on that legislation for some time now, and I am pleased we got it done earlier today. I give special credit to Chair Murkowski, the bill manager, and her counterpart Senator Cantwell for their incredible patience and diligence in dealing with this legislation that had been stuck on this Senate floor for some time.

Senator Murkowski, in particular, didn't shy away from addressing some of the most difficult challenges head on. Needless to say, her tirelessness, her diligence, and hard work finally paid off earlier today.

This legislation is important to the country because it helps update our energy policies and helps America produce more energy, use it more efficiently, and save money in the process. One of the most significant portions of that legislation was streamlining the approval process for the liquefied natural gas export. This is really an example of how our energy future has been transformed so dramatically.

You may recall that years ago there were terminals being built around the country on the shorelines that were going to be the recipients of natural gas produced in some other part of the world and then brought to the United States. But thanks to modern drilling technology and the use of fracking--I know in some quarters this is a dirty word, but we have been doing it successfully in the United States for 70 or more years. Thanks to horizontal drilling in fracking and modern drilling technologies, America is now producing more natural gas than we have any use for. It is good for our economy, good for our jobs, and good for the world, really, for America to be able to export more of its natural gas--and oil, for that matter. It is something we dealt with at the end of last year when we lifted the antiquated export ban on crude oil.

This legislation, like the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, is another example of how the Senate is back to work. When I talk to constituents and folks back home, I say: Well, you may not have heard--or if you heard it, you may not actually believe it--but we are actually getting some work done in this Congress under new leadership. I think it has been beneficial not only to the country, not just to those directly affected by the legislation we are passing-- things such as the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act to deal with the opioid prescription drug abuse and heroin issue--not only are the people directly affected by the legislation benefiting, but the entire country is, and particularly Members of the Senate. We have actually been able to debate, discuss, and ultimately vote on legislation. What a concept.

It was not too long ago--when the Democratic leader was majority leader--that this Senate was virtually shut down. Even if you were in the majority party, even if you were a Democrat when Democrats held the majority in the Senate, basically because of the decision to shut down the legislative process and to deny anyone an opportunity to offer an amendment, when it came to election time, many of our Democratic colleagues didn't have anything to show for their service representing their constituents in the Senate, even though they were in the majority party.

Under the new leadership of the Senator from Kentucky, Mr. McConnell, the Senate majority leader is committed to an open process that benefits all Members of the Senate and all 320 million or so people in the United States who we represent. Now any Senator, regardless of whether they are in the majority or minority, can call up and seek votes on amendments to legislation to help make legislation better. I think we have learned an invaluable lesson from the mistakes of the past. Only by working together in a bipartisan way can we try to find consensus and get things done. The American people deserve that.

Now that we have finished our work on the Energy bill, I hope we can work together to address other problems facing the country. One of the most fundamental jobs the Congress has to perform is the appropriations process because somebody has to pay for the policies to actually make the policies that we pass work.

This week we have a chance to start that process with the Energy and Water Appropriations bill. This is another example of great bipartisan work and commitment, a bill that unanimously passed out of committee. This legislation will invest in our Nation's waterways and fund critical infrastructure projects.

Yesterday I spoke about the flooding that has been affecting much of Texas this week, particularly the Houston area, and that we are struggling to deal with. This appropriations bill, for example, would invest in projects to mitigate risks associated with flooding like that which Texas has been experiencing over this week. It would also invest in our nuclear arsenal to make sure we are ready to meet existing and future nuclear threats.

To put it simply, this appropriations bill plays a big role, not only in terms of our national security but also in terms of our public safety. That is both at home and abroad.

Last year we got stuck. We tried to move the appropriations bills through the regular process, but because of a dispute over spending levels, our Democratic friends basically blocked any ability we had to move the appropriations bill through the regular order or the regular process. Unfortunately, at the end of the year, what that left us with was the need to pass one big Omnibus appropriations bill, something that nobody said they liked. In fact, on the Senate floor I called it not an Omnibus appropriations bill but an ominous appropriations bill. The problem with that is there is very little transparency, and only a handful of people are really directly involved in crafting a bill that spends over $1 trillion. That is a terrible way to do business. Now we are trying to get back to the old-fashioned way--one bill at a time.

I commend Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Feinstein for the good work they have done so far. This is going to take a little bit of cooperation and maybe even a little bit of self-restraint, something that Washington isn't necessarily known for. Even though all 12 appropriations bills were sent out of their respective committees last year for the first time since 2009, we weren't able to get it done. I am hoping this year will be different.

So far our colleagues across the aisle have said they believe we ought to proceed with a markup of different appropriations bills, voting on them one at a time. This is our first test. Believe me, people are watching to see how we proceed on this legislation and on other appropriations bills, including our colleagues in the House of Representatives.

Stop passing some stopgap funding bill at the brink at the end of a fiscal year where people are talking about shutdowns. That is not the way we are supposed to work. We could do better and we could avoid those pitfalls if we would just do our best, show a little restraint, and get our work done.

I hope the Energy and Water bill is the first of 12 appropriations bills that we consider, discuss, and ultimately pass because that is what the American people deserve.

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Mr. CORNYN. Will the Senator yield for a question?

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I would just ask the distinguished Senator from Tennessee, the bill manager--the point he makes is exactly right, and I think most Americans would be surprised at this blue line and the fact that this is the money the appropriations process spends each year, but it is only about 30 percent of what the Federal Government spends--to his point.

My recollection is that under current projections, that red line is growing at about 5.3 percent, it seems like, over the next 30 years or so, while the blue line remains roughly flat. But that is a product of a lot of things that need to be fixed, such as the fact that for every $1 put into Medicare, $3 is spent, and the fact that in the not too distant future, the Social Security trust fund is going to run out of money because people are getting older, more people are benefiting, and fewer people are paying into it.

But the Senator is exactly right. We actually have been pretty disciplined in dealing with discretionary spending because of the Budget Control Act and sequestration. And many people have decried the fact that we actually renegotiated the sequester numbers, but one reason we did that is for national security purposes, that about half a trillion dollars of the money we spend is for national security.

I know the Senator is aware, as I am, that there is good work being done at the Budget Committee level to come up with some budget reforms, but unless we get control of not just the discretionary spending but the nondiscretionary--the mandatory spending, that red line--we are going to continue to see the deficits and the debt grow. And when interest rates go back up to normal levels, we are going to be spending more money on interest on the debt than we will, perhaps, on national security.

I told the Senator this was a question and I guess it is more of a statement, but I just wanted to thank him and Senator Feinstein and the Committee on Appropriations for getting us back to regular order and back to work, and I hope we will take up and pass this legislation without undue delay.

I would also add that this is not an opportunity for people to empty their out basket on different pieces of legislation they would like. Because of the rules of the Senate, that would create a lot of problems. So, again, I guess we would counsel for some of the self- restraint that was talked about earlier.

I thank the Senators from Tennessee and California for bringing this important piece of legislation to us. I hope we can get this done sometime today or tomorrow.

I thank the Senator.

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Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

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Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

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