Transportation, Housing And Urban Development, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010--Conference Report

Floor Speech

TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010--CONFERENCE REPORT -- (Senate - December 10, 2009)

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

Mr. McCAIN. I will be glad to yield.

Mr. THUNE. The Senator mentioned that for these seven bills, the year-over-year increase in spending is 12 percent. Does the Senator from Arizona know what the CPI this last year was?

Mr. McCAIN. The CPI was minus 1.3 percent, not to mention 10 percent unemployment in America, not to mention people not being able to stay in their homes, not to mention the hardest economic conditions in history, certainly, since the Great Depression.

Spending on domestic programs is increased by 14 percent. What brings that down to 12 percent is they only increased veterans spending--veterans spending--by 5 percent. But opera houses, rural bus programs, music programs--$300,000 for music programs at Carnegie Hall. Do you think Carnegie Hall needs $300,000 for music programs?

Mr. THUNE. If the Senator will yield for another question, do any of these numbers the Senator is talking about--this 12-percent increase in spending in these seven appropriations bills over the previous year, at a time when families across this country are being asked to tighten their belts, small businesses are tightening their belts; as the Senator said, we have record unemployment--do these numbers include the almost $1 trillion that was spent earlier this year in the stimulus bill?

Mr. McCAIN. The stimulus bill has nothing to do with that, I would say to my colleague, and we all know that. This is entirely new, six appropriations bills, totaling nearly $450 billion which, by the way, the majority leader wanted to pass by unanimous consent. Remarkable.

Mr. THUNE. I say to my colleague and friend from Arizona, that is a 12-percent year-over-year increase and the five bills that have already passed had increases that were in the teens in terms of the year-over-year increases too. I do not know how, when you pass a $1 trillion stimulus bill, much of which was distributed to Federal agencies that are also going to get these year-over-year 12-percent, 14-percent, 15-percent increases in spending, we can justify that to the American taxpayer or to hard-working Americans who are struggling right now to make ends meet and have to balance their family budgets. States are struggling to balance their budgets. But here in Washington, it seems as though it is spend, spend, spend.

Mr. McCAIN. I would also respond to my friend, it has to be in the context of a revision over 10 years, recently, by the Office of Management and Budget from a $10 trillion to a $12 trillion deficit. The deficit for this year is $1.4 trillion, and I am not sure what it is next year. But they could not have known that in the Appropriations Committee when they passed spending measures such as this.

The point is, in the face of massive, unprecedented deficits, unfunded liabilities in Social Security and Medicare, where we are asking Americans all over to tighten their belts--in my State essential services are being cut because they do not have enough money--this is the same business as usual that we have seen for years.

I saw a poll yesterday--it was in a Hotline poll or one of those--that the approval rating of Members of Congress is below that of used car salesmen. I have not met those who express their approval. So we should not be surprised at some very interesting things that may take place in the elections coming up this November. But it is unfortunate, that is all.

Mr. THUNE. I say to the Senator, one final point I would make is, of all that spending the Senator mentioned--and again the $1 trillion in stimulus money was all borrowed money; that was all added to the debt, will be added to the debt, and is going to be paid for by our children and grandchildren, but the $1.4 trillion the Senator mentioned that last year constituted the Federal deficit means that out of every dollar the Federal Government spent last year, 43 cents was borrowed.

Mr. McCAIN. Forty-three cents. And do you know who they borrowed it against? Our kids and our grandkids. They are the ones who are going to have to pay for it. I do not think I will. It is our kids and our grandkids whom we are laying it on. This is a colossal act of generational theft that we have committed. And believe it or not, the American people have figured it out.

Mr. THUNE. There is no question. The one thing that I guess is bothersome is most generations of Americans--your generation, obviously--worked hard, sacrificed so the next generation could have a better life. What we are basically doing is borrowing from the next generation because we have not been able to live within our means. That turns on its head one of the great ethics of America that has served this country so well for generations. Washington, DC, has not learned the lesson that when you borrow money, it has to be paid back, and that you cannot spend more than you take in. Forty-three cents out of every dollar last year was borrowed--all to be put on the bills of our children and grandchildren.

Mr. McCAIN. The Senator is correct.

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