Budget Negotiations

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, tomorrow night at midnight, unless steps are taken, we will be facing a government shutdown. When I say steps are taken, steps are taken to avoid that. That can happen one of two ways: That could be an agreement that funds the government through the end of the fiscal year, which would be September 30 of this year, and there are negotiations that continue on dealing with that issue, or there could be a short-term continuing resolution that would take us through the next week that would enable those who are negotiating a longer term agreement to continue their discussions and hopefully to conclude a successful outcome to those discussions.

I want to remind my colleagues--and I believe I have been on the Senate floor a number of times speaking to this issue, but I think it bears repeating--why we are here, why we are in the middle of the sixth continuing resolution. This is the sixth short-term continuing funding resolution that we have had to live with since the end of the fiscal year, which was September 30 of last year.

The reason we are here is because last year the Democratic majority in Congress failed to pass a budget and failed to pass a single appropriations bill. They didn't fulfill the most fundamental responsibility that we have to the American taxpayers; that is, put together a budget that funds their government. So we have funded the government through these successive continuing resolutions. As I said before, we are now in the middle of the sixth short-term funding resolution which expires tomorrow night at midnight.

My colleagues on the other side have been coming to the floor and attacking the Republicans for wanting to shut down the government. I would say to my colleagues that nothing could be further from the truth. I think everybody here recognizes that no one benefits from a government shutdown. Frankly, the effort has been made in the House of Representatives to pass a long-term funding resolution that would take us through the end of the fiscal year, through September 30 of this year, but that failed in the Senate. We had a vote on that. It failed and there has not been, since that time, any meaningful effort made on the part of the Democrats in the Senate to put forward a proposal that might, in fact, be able to pass the Senate and ultimately pass in the House of Representatives.

So we triggered these discussions between the White House and the leadership in the House of Representatives and the leader of the Democrats in the Senate. My understanding is those discussions continue. I hope they will reach a conclusion, a successful conclusion, but until that time happens we need to do something to make sure the government stays open beyond tomorrow night at midnight. So we will receive from the House of Representatives a piece of legislation that they passed earlier today, a continuing resolution that actually reduces government spending by about $13 billion, discretionary spending, all cuts that have been agreed to by both parties, and also extends funding for the military through the end of the fiscal year.

There has been a lot of discussion about we need to provide some certainty for our military so they can plan. I agree with that absolutely. I met with members of our military, with our military leadership. It is important that we take care of the funding needs that they have through the end of this fiscal year.

So what did the House of Representatives do? They took a series of spending reductions which had been agreed upon, as I said, by both parties; they funded the military through the end of the fiscal year, through September 30; and they added a couple of provisions to that legislation that had been widely supported by both parties in the Congress.

There is a ban on abortion funding in the District of Columbia which has been supported by the Democratic leader, the Democratic whip on countless occasions. They included a provision that would prevent funding being used to bring detainees here and try them in the United States instead of at Guantanamo Bay. That is something widely supported. In fact the last time it was supported was when the Defense authorization passed late last year in December, and it passed by unanimous consent. So many of my Democratic colleagues are on record supporting all the elements that are in this continuing resolution that will be coming over to us from the House of Representatives.

The question then becomes, Who is it that is trying to trigger a government shutdown?

I am not here this evening to play the blame game. I do not think that serves anybody's interest, nor do I believe a government shutdown serves anybody's interests very well. I think the American people expect us to find solutions. They expect us to work out our differences but eventually to agree. I think that has certainly happened in the form of this continuing resolution that is coming over from the House of Representatives.

In fact, it passed the House today with 247 votes, including a number of Democrats. There were a number of Democrats who voted with the majority of Republicans in the House to pass a continuing resolution that takes on the issue of out-of-control Washington spending, which has been very clearly documented. We need to get spending under control.

We are adding to the Federal debt at a rate of $4 billion every single day, which means by tomorrow night at 6:30--it is 6:30 tonight--tomorrow night 6:30 on Friday, we will have added another $4 billion to the debt. That is the debt meter we are running. Every single day we add $4 billion to the Federal debt that we pass on to future generations.

We are borrowing over 40 cents out of every single dollar the Federal Government spends. We cannot continue to do that. We will take in $2.2 trillion this year, spend $3.7 trillion. That is $1.5 trillion in deficits in a single year. Add that up year after year after year and we end up with a $14 trillion debt, which is where we are today. It is growing at $1.5 trillion every single year.

So we have to get spending under control. I understand there is not a lot of appetite on the other side of the aisle for taking on Federal spending. In fact, many of my colleagues on the other side thought it was an ambitious proposal when they put forward an alternative to the Republican-passed bill that cut discretionary spending by $61 billion. They put forward an alternative that cut $4.7 billion.

That is the equivalent of the Federal debt we will add in the next 24 hours. That was their, I guess, idea about a serious effort to meaningfully address deficit spending and debts. The fact is, we have to deal with the issue of out-of-control spending.

Clearly, the continuing resolution, the short-term continuing resolution that passed the House, is coming to the Senate, takes on that issue, but does it in a way that cuts spending--spending cuts that, as I said, both sides have agreed to. It is a mystery to me as to why our colleagues on the other side would reject a proposal that includes spending cuts that have been agreed upon by both sides.

Frankly, if, in fact, it is true, in the reports I have read, that Democrats would accept somewhere on the order of $43 billion in cuts for the balance of the fiscal year, this represents about $12 or $13 billion. So we are still considerably under what they have agreed to in terms of a total number, but with regard to the actual cuts that are suggested by the House-passed legislation, they are, by and large, cuts the Democrats have agreed with.

So we have agreement on these reductions in spending, we have a general agreement that we ought to fund the troops through the end of the year, and we have an agreement on the so-called riders--at least there has been agreement in the past, broad bipartisan support. I would argue that the two particular provisions on this bill are provisions that are supported by probably 70 percent of people across this country.

So we have a piece of legislation that has broad bipartisan support, that has come over to us from the House of Representatives, and that would prevent a government shutdown at midnight tomorrow night. It is a great mystery as to why our Democratic colleagues would not accept that and do what I think is in the best interests of the American people; that is, at least get us into next week, where a final negotiation on the longer term continuing resolution can be concluded.

We have a problem in this country. We have a government that is spending way beyond its means. We have to start living within our means. We cannot continue to spend money we do not have. The efforts that are being made to reduce spending are long overdue. I hope they can conclude a successful agreement on a longer term resolution that would get us through the end of this fiscal year.

But I think it is important to point out, right here right now, that we have an opportunity to prevent a government shutdown, to fund our troops through the end of the fiscal year, and to reduce, in a meaningful way, spending, with spending cuts that have been agreed to by both sides in the form of this continuing resolution that was passed in the House this afternoon, with a large number, not a large number but a significant number of Democrats supporting it.

I would suggest to my colleagues on the other side, and I hope they will work with us to make sure we avoid a government shutdown, that we fund our troops and that we make a meaningful dent in out-of-control Washington spending. I would, again, as we approach that time tomorrow night at midnight, hope the leadership on the other side will take up that legislation that was passed by the House of Representatives, give us an opportunity to vote on it. I will submit there will be a large bipartisan vote in the Senate. If we do not have a large bipartisan vote, it will suggest that there are a lot of people who have changed their positions on the issues that are included in this piece of legislation because they are all things that many of us on both sides have supported and I suspect continue to support.

That will avoid that witching hour tomorrow night at midnight, where the government shuts down. They have given us an opportunity to vote on legislation that would do that. I hope we will take them up on that.

I yield the floor.

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