Continuing Resolution
Floor Speech
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I wish to start this morning by acknowledging the progress that has been made this week. Senator Reid's prediction that the Senate will follow the House in approving a $4 billion cut for the current fiscal year is a small step, but it is indeed a step in the right direction. This is a long-awaited acknowledgment by Democrats in Congress that we have a spending problem around here. It is hard to believe when we are spending $1.6 trillion more than we are taking in in a single year that it would take this long to cut a penny in spending, but it is progress nonetheless. It was also encouraging to hear the White House say yesterday that they would be supportive of a 4-week CR with $8 billion in cuts. So it is encouraging that the White House and congressional Democrats now agree that the status quo won't work and that the bills we pass must include spending reductions.
Beyond that, the GAO report which Senator Coburn requested and which we all saw yesterday makes it pretty clear--to me, at least--that there are a lot of very obvious targets for additional cuts. I wish to thank Senator Coburn for requesting the report, first of all. I don't think most Americans are surprised to hear that Washington is wasting so much money. I do think some people might be surprised at how rampant it is and, frankly, the sheer idiocy--the sheer idiocy--of some of the waste we have been tolerating around here.
I can't imagine anyone in the Senate voting against a bill that would return to taxpayers money we are wasting on the bloated and duplicative programs outlined in this report, programs which, as ABC put it, are chewing up billions of dollars in funding every year. It would be an embarrassment and a double indictment of Congress to not act. The report is damning, but it comes at a good time. Right when we are looking to make cuts on which both parties can agree, we learn that we have a roadmap showing more than 100 programs dealing with surface transportation issues, 82 programs monitoring teacher quality, 80 programs for economic development, 47 programs for job training, and 17 different programs for disaster preparedness. Here is my favorite: 56 programs to help people understand finances.
How do you like that? There are 56 programs to help people understand finances. If that isn't an emblem of government waste, I don't know what is. We are going to be $1.6 trillion in the red this year alone. Not only do we think we are in a position to teach other people about financial literacy, we have 56 overlapping programs to do it. If we are going to create the conditions for private sector job growth in this country, this is a good place to start.
We have to stop spending money we don't have on more government and calling that progress. Democrats have tried that. They have borrowed $3 trillion over the past 2 years to expand the size and scope of government. And what has it gotten us? It has gotten us 3 million more lost jobs.
We have made some progress this week--a very small step, perhaps, but one in the right direction. At the same time, the White House took another step backward this week by failing to fulfill another responsibility. According to the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, the President is required to submit a reform proposal for Medicare if more than 45 percent of the program's finances are being drawn from the government's general revenue fund instead of a fund specifically set aside for Medicare for 2 years in a row. As of today, that is the situation. As of today, that is the situation. The President is supposed to have taken care of this, but he hasn't. He is punting on this responsibility just as he punted on other reforms in the 10-year budget plan he released last month.
Washington's unsustainable spending on entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security must be addressed now--now--and we will never be able to ensure the stability and solvency of any of them without Presidential leadership. In this case, that is not just my opinion; the law actually requires it.
Now, just one more word on the continuing resolution. Once we pass this stopgap spending measure, we will be right back at it again 2 weeks from now unless we can reach an agreement on a long-term measure before then.
The House has sent us a bill that will keep the government funded through the end of the year. At the moment this next continuing resolution expires, we will be nearly halfway through the fiscal year. The House bill contains a much needed defense spending bill for the rest of the year. Many important programs have been delayed, and Secretary Gates has made clear that further delay will harm combat readiness. So there are many compelling reasons for us to reach agreement on a longer term bill.
Madam President, I yield the floor.
END
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