Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 -- Continued
Floor Speech
CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued -- (Senate - December 18, 2007)
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, for 46 hours and 8 minutes--for 46 hours and 8 minutes--the Senator from South Carolina has had an opportunity to go to the Internet and see this bill in its entirety, with his staff, and to read every page--46 hours and 8 minutes. For this Senator to suggest on the floor that we are sneaking this bill in, that people have not had a chance to see it, I would just say to the Senator from South Carolina: Welcome to the world of the Internet. This bill has been posted since 12:15 a.m. Monday morning on the Internet for your perusal. That is early to get up, I understand. It is an early time to be reading the bill. But, please, do not come to the floor and suggest that this is a mystery bill which no one has seen. For 2 days, this has been posted on the Internet. You have had your chance. Every Senator has had a chance. And incidentally, this bill was passed pursuant to a budget resolution.
Mr. DeMINT. Has the Senator read the bill? Have you read the bill?
Mr. DURBIN. Regular order, Mr. President. The Senator from South Carolina would not yield for my questions, and ordinarily I do, but I am going to make this quick because it is late at night.
I say to the Senator from South Carolina: Welcome to the Senate where we pass a budget resolution. We did that this year. It is new to the Senate. We did not do that last year. Welcome to the Senate where we are going to pass appropriations bills. It did not happen last year. The Senator may recall when he arrived that the Republican-controlled Senate failed to pass 11 appropriations bills, and we had to pass them when we arrived in the new Senate.
So for him to suggest that what we are doing here does not give the American people a chance to see what has happened--this has been the most transparent approach to passing these bills. In fact, I might say to the Senator--he has probably followed this--the Senate Appropriations Committee has considered all of the bills that are contained therein. There have been changes, for sure, but those that came to the floor--about 7 of them--passed with over 75 votes apiece. So to suggest that this is a mystery document is to ignore the Internet, ignore the availability, and ignore the obvious. The last time, the Republican majority passed two appropriations bills. Congratulations. We want to pass them all. And this is your chance. You can vote no. That is your right as a Senator.
Let me say a word about earmarks. About 4 inches of the document in front of you consists of complete disclosure on earmarks--the most detailed disclosure in the history of Congress. And your chart, unfortunately, tells the story from the wrong angle. The total dollar amount of the earmarks contained in those appropriations equals 43 percent of the earmarks contained in the Republican appropriations bills of 2 years ago. A 43-percent reduction in the dollar value of earmarks, total transparency, total disclosure--I thought that is what you were asking for when you stood up during the ethics debate.
Let me also say that the Senator is opposing the removal of authorization language from appropriations bills. That is a point under our rules that is debated all the time. It happens. It happened in my bill, in my appropriations bill. And most of the time it happens because the White House tells us they do not want the language.
The last point I want to make to you is that to suggest that this bill is wasteful spending comes at just the right moment--just the right moment--after the Senator from South Carolina voted for $70 billion on a war that is not paid for. And the Senator joined in opposing our efforts to pay for a reduction in taxes. Wasteful spending? What the Senator did in those two votes is to pass billions of dollars in debt on to future generations.
I would urge the Senator, discover the Internet, discover the opportunity to read these bills. And when you do, you will see that this information has been available now for 46 hours and 13 minutes.
I yield the floor.
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bills do not adequately address all of the long-term needs of the American people. We have no one to blame but the President and his Republican allies who have chosen to stand by his side.
The bills we drafted and passed out of the Appropriations Committees on a bipartisan basis went far beyond what we have here today, but the President has made it clear he would veto any bills that were above his grossly inadequate budget.
These allies stood with the President and his budget, a budget that I cannot believe anyone would be proud to support. The President's budget contained cuts of 800 grants for medical research at NIH, cuts in programs that provide access to health care by $595 million, cuts in rural health initiatives by 50 percent, cuts for crucial Department of Education programs by $1.2 billion, and cuts in Homeland Security Grants for police, firefighters, and medical personnel by $1.1 billion.
This is what we were presented with take it or leave it. The President refused to compromise and instead made it very clear that in his eyes, cuts for health care, education, jobs, and homeland security are nonnegotiable. For the cost of what we spend in 2 months in Iraq, the President was more than willing to sacrifice a year's worth of badly needed investments into health research, our children's education, worker safety, and homeland security.
The President has done all of this under the banner of fiscal responsibility. This is hard to believe from a President who increased spending 50 percent since he came to office, saddled our children and grandchildren with $3.3 trillion in new debt, doubled the size of foreign debt held by other countries, and asked for another $200 billion for the war in Iraq without paying for it.
This President also had no problem with a Defense spending bill that was 11 percent more than he asked for. He has no problem asking us for a blank check to fund war in Iraq. This is a President who says it is OK to increase spending for those in other countries, but not here at home. When it comes to raising money for our needs at home his answer comes with a stroke of his new-found veto pen.
When the President drew his line in the sand, we reached out to our Republican counterparts in an effort to build a bipartisan coalition to overcome his veto, but Republicans gave us the cold shoulder and have decided to stand with the President. These are the same Republicans who last Congress failed to pass a budget or complete any of its work on domestic funding bills. They have criticized us for the size of this bill, but compared to nothing, I will take our work here.
We realize we have an obligation to the American people to fund the important functions of our Government and to finish our work as a Congress. To complete these bills we had to make tough decisions in the face of the President's unreasonable demands and work toward prioritizing the needs of the country.
Even within the unreasonable constraints of the President's budget numbers, we still put veterans first. This bill added $3.7 billion above the President's budget request for veterans and their health needs. This $3.7 billion in veterans spending is a proposal the President once threatened to veto. These funds will be used for medical and prosthetic research, health services for injured and ill veterans, and the construction of new medical facilities to help those returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The additional $3.7 billion for veterans is contingent on Presidential action. The President must make an emergency spending request by January 18, 2008.
Within the President's overall budget numbers, we were still able to increase spending for health, education and workers by $3.9 billion. That is $3.9 billion for our needs here for Americans at home. Even with the President's hard-line position on his overall budget numbers, the fiscal year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act better reflects American priorities.
Democratic increases above the President's budget request include $3.7 billion for veterans healthcare, $613 million for medical research, $3 billion for education, $486 million for renewable energy sources, $788 million for heating assistance for low-income households, $1.6 billion for highways and bridges, $1.2 billion for State and local law enforcement, $1.8 billion for homeland security, and $17 million for consumer protection.
I am also very pleased and proud of what we were able to do with very limited funding within the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee.
Our bill provides $20.6 billion in funding for the Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service, the Executive Office of the President, the Federal judiciary, the District of Columbia, and an array of 20 independent agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the General Services Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Election Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Postal Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Small Business Administration.
Therefore, while I would like to highlight some of the features in the Financial Services title, I note that the circumstances that led to the final bill forced us to make regrettable cuts, because of the President's insistence on his overall bottom line on domestic spending.
I am pleased this bill provides $80 million for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a 30-percent increase of $17.3 million above the fiscal year 2007 enacted level and $16.75 million above the budget request.
This increase in funding will allow the agency to hire employees, find space for additional employees, and make critically needed IT improvements.
In addition, the bill includes $115 million for election reform programs to be available for States for assistance in meeting the requirements of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The amended bill also provides $10 million for an election data collection pilot program.
Within the IRS, funding of $2.15 billion is provided for the Taxpayer Services account. This is $11.7 million above the fiscal year 2007 enacted level, $46.9 million above the President's request, and $800,000 above the Senate committee-reported level. The President's budget sought to cut Taxpayer Services by $35.1 million below the fiscal year 2007 level. The bill also establishes a new $8 million pilot grant program to improve the Community Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program to serve underserved populations and hardest-to-reach areas.
The bill boosts funding for Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions, CDFI, Fund to $94 million, reflecting an increase of $39.5 million over the fiscal year 2007 enacted level, $65.4 million above the President's request, and $4 million above the Senate committee-reported level. The President's request would have decimated the fund, which promotes access to capital and local economic growth by directly investing in and supporting community development financial institutions and by expanding lending, investment, and services offered by banks and thrifts within underserved markets.
The Federal judiciary receives a 4.3 percent increase over fiscal year 2007 in both mandatory and discretionary funding. Within the Judiciary title, the bill provides $410 million--an 8.3 percent increase over fiscal year 2007--for court security. The bill also authorizes a pilot program to permit the U.S. Marshals instead of the Federal Protective Service to provide security for seven Federal courthouses including the Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago.
Finally, among an array of general provisions applicable government-wide in Title VII of Division D, the bill provides for a 3.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment for civilian Federal employees as included in both the House-passed and Senate committee-reported bills.
I am frustrated that we were not able to do more and that the process has been delayed, but the fiscal year 2008 funding levels we consider this evening reflect America's priorities and I am pleased to support the final package.
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