To reduce spending other than national security spending by 5 percent.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS
APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
proceed is agreed to and the clerk will report the bill.
The legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (H.R. 3081) making appropriations for the Department
of State, foreign operations, and related programs for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other
purposes.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, today is September 29, which means that
fiscal year 2010 will come to an end tomorrow at midnight. We should
all keep that in mind because in order to avoid a government shutdown,
the Senate must act now to send this essential legislation to the House
of Representatives.
I do not believe any of my colleagues wish the Government of the
United States to be shut down on Friday, so I am hopeful we can avoid
unnecessary amendments and work in a bipartisan fashion to pass this CR
and send it to the House.
This is a clean continuing resolution that includes only those
exceptions that are critical to allow the government to carry out its
responsibilities. I would note that according to the CBO scoring of
this bill, this resolution will fund the government through December 3,
2010, at a rate that is approximately $8.2 billion below fiscal year
2010 enacted levels.
Vice Chairman Cochran and I have done our best to ensure that this CR
includes only the bare minimum of what is necessary to continue
government operations until Members on both sides of the aisle are able
to work out their differences and complete action on this year's
appropriations bills.
In addition, the CR extends the temporary assistance for the Needy
Families block grant program, which provides necessities such as food
and clothing for those hardest hit by the struggling economy. This
resolution also extends the current GSE loan limits, to prevent a
disruption of the home mortgage market. Finally, this measure will fund
current military operations for the next 2 months, ensuring that our
soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines will have what they need to
carry out their missions.
While I know there are many additional matters which the
administration and other Members of the Senate wish to have included,
we have been unable to reach a bipartisan agreement to do so. But I can
assure my colleagues that everything essential to continue government
services has been included.
Time is short, and we have before us a clean CR that has the bare
minimum of exceptions necessary to avoid disruptions to government
services that is approximately $8.2 billion below fiscal year 2010
levels, and that has the approval of both the majority and minority
leaders.
I urge my colleagues to vote to support this CR and to send it to the
House as quickly as possible.
I reserve the remainder of my time, Mr. President.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time
expended during the quorum call be equally divided on both sides.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I want to speak for a few minutes. My
understanding is that Senator Thune is coming to the floor in a moment
to offer an amendment to the continuing resolution that would reduce
spending in the continuing resolution by 5 percent on discretionary
items that are nondefense oriented.
I want to say that I just came from a meeting with Chairman Bernanke
talking about our debt situation. I know we have a Deficit Reduction
Commission right now that is working on that and will have a report due
on December 1. But I think everyone in this body understands it is a
huge issue for our country and that right now the markets have allowed
us to have lower interest rates because we are considered to be a safe
haven. But the fact is, at some point in time we all understand this is
going to disconnect and, in fact, we will pay higher interest rates
because of our lack of ability to control our spending.
I think a great first step for us to be able to walk into--hopefully,
something constructed by the Deficit Reduction Commission and, if not,
by our own actions this next year, where we know the No. 1 issue that
threatens our economic security in this country--and

[[Page S7704]]

by virtue of threatening our economic security, it threatens our
national security--is the huge amount of spending that is taking place.
I think we have all seen throughout the country what I would say is a
very centered and deep concern about the amount of money we spend here
in Washington.
I want to say, anybody who thought last year's appropriations bills
were far higher than they should have been should support the Thune
amendment. The fact is, what we are actually doing by virtue of the CR
that has been offered is we are actually continuing spending at 25
percent of our gross domestic product, which is a full 5 percentage
points above our historic 50-year average of 20.3 percent.
I think the Thune amendment is an appropriate first step. I think all
of us in this body know that over the course of the next couple years
we are going to have to take Draconian steps to rein in spending, which
has been out of control. We are operating this year without even a
budget.
I do not cast blame. I just want to focus on solutions. The very best
way we can start walking toward a solution that ensures continued
economic security in this country is to support the Thune amendment.
I am here to talk for a few minutes. I know the Senator from Arizona
has just stepped on the floor. I think the Thune amendment is
thoughtful. I hope all of us on both sides of the aisle will consider
it thoughtful, and that we will get behind it.
I yield the floor, Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, obviously we are 1 day away from the end
of the fiscal year. We have before us a continuing resolution, better
known as a CR. It totals over $1.1 trillion to fund the operations of
the Federal Government through December 3, after the elections.
In addition to continuing appropriations, this measure also includes
numerous authorizing provisions from the fiscal year 2011 Defense
authorization bill. We shouldn't have to selectively tack important,
defense-related provisions on to appropriations bills in order to meet
the pressing needs of the Armed Forces.
The majority has decided to wait until the very last minute to bring
this stopgap measure to the floor with the hope that Members will
simply vote yes so that we can all go home and focus on the upcoming
elections. I will not be voting yes. I will be voting no. If we pass
this resolution, we can be assured that we will be considering yet
another massive omnibus spending bill in December. The simple fact that
we are considering this continuing resolution is evidence of the
majority's inability to lead effectively and do the people's business.
As I said, we are 1 day from the end of the fiscal year. This body
has not considered a single one of the annual appropriations bills on
the floor. We have a $13.5 trillion debt and a deficit of nearly $1.4
trillion. Yet we have not debated a single spending bill or considered
any amendments that would cut costs or get our debt under control.
Furthermore, the majority decided they just didn't feel like doing a
budget this year, so we didn't do a budget this year.
On top of all of this, the majorities in both Houses have decided
there will be no debate, no vote on extending the tax cuts that are due
to expire at the end of this year. On Monday of this week, the New York
Times published an editorial called ``Profiles in Timidity.'' The
editorial stated, in part:

We are starting to wonder whether Congressional Democrats
lack the courage of their convictions, or simply lack
convictions.
Last week, Senate Democrats did not even bother to schedule
a debate, let alone a vote, on the expiring Bush tax cuts.
This week, House Democrats appeared poised to follow suit.

The New York Times goes on to say:

This particular failure to act was not about Republican
obstructionism . . . This was about Democrats failing to
seize an opportunity to do the right thing and at the same
time draw a sharp distinction between themselves and the
Republicans.

Those are not my words; those are the words of the New York Times.
Anyone who converses with people in the business community around
this country, whether it be small businesspeople or whether it be the
largest, all of them will say the same thing: We have no certainty
about what the financial future will hold, whether we will see tax
increases or whether we will see tax cuts. What about the estate tax?
What about all of these other ``tax cuts'' that will or will not be
extended?
So rather than act one way or the other, we have now punted the ball
down the field until after the election. At least we should have taken
it up and debated and voted. I will stand by my vote to extend all the
tax cuts because I don't believe we should increase anybody's taxes in
tough economic times. But instead we will punt, go home, campaign, and
then sometimes be curious why the approval rating of Congress is
somewhere in the teens.
We have no business at the eleventh hour considering a continuing
resolution so we can pack up and go home. We should stay here, in
session, and consider each and every appropriations bill in regular
order and give Members ample opportunity to offer amendments. Following
that, we should debate the Defense authorization bill and consider all
amendments by Members, not just those the majority deems necessary to
please their base.
When the authorization bill was proposed to be brought up on the
floor of the Senate, on this side, we said: Let's have 10 amendments on
either side--10 amendments on each side--and we will move forward with
regular debate and votes. The majority leader didn't want that to
happen. The majority leader only wanted to consider don't ask, don't
tell, secret holds, and the DREAM Act, and then take the bill off the
floor and wait until--guess what--after the elections. That is not how
this body should operate. We should consider all amendments. We would
agree to time agreements. And if there are tough votes to be taken,
that is why we are sent here--to take tough votes.
We should debate and vote on whether to extend the tax cuts, as I
said. Each day this issue is left unresolved, millions of American
taxpayers and small business owners are left without the ability to
properly budget for the next year.
At a townhall meeting, a guy stands up and says: I am a CPA. I make a
living advising people how they should adjust their estates and their
expenses and their investments based on, at least in part, what kinds
of tax liabilities they will be facing. I can't do my job because we
don't know.
The environment of uncertainty is holding back investment and job
creation in this country, and at least the people of this country
should have the right to know what their taxes are going to be next
year. That won't be the case.
Let me return for a minute to the continuing resolution and the very
serious concerns I have about one of its provisions. According to the
Appropriations Committee and press reports, section 146 of this bill
would authorize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to continue buying and
guaranteeing mortgages up to $730,000 in expensive housing markets
through September of next year. Under current law, that amount was
scheduled to drop to $625,000 at the end of this year. One would think
that by now we would all be sensitive to the disastrous fiscal
implications of Fannie's and Freddie's performance and find ways to
rein them in rather than maintain or expand their operations. Fannie
and Freddie are synonymous with mismanagement and waste and have become
the face of too big to fail.
Congress had the responsibility to ensure that Fannie and Freddie
were properly supervised and adequately regulated. Congress failed, and
the devastation caused by that failure continues to reverberate across
the Nation every day.
A recent editorial in the Dallas Morning News said:

They--Fannie and Freddie--had long ago evolved from the
modest backer of loans that met high underwriting standards
into full-scale casino players in high-risk mortgages. By
purchasing or backing the loans of mortgage companies and
banks, Fannie and Freddie made it possible for lenders to
create more money for new loans to new homeowners.
But Fannie and Freddie also conveniently benefited from
their hybrid status: They could make loans at advantageous
rates and run to Washington at the first sign of trouble. As
a major political donor, they seldom

[[Page S7705]]

heard the word ``no'' anywhere inside the Beltway.

That is right. They seldom heard the word ``no'' anywhere inside the
beltway. Some suggest that because of their deep pockets and generous
campaign contributions, Congress routinely overlooked the growing
problems at Fannie and Freddie and allowed them to continue operating
in the most obscene, corrupt fashion.
So where are we now? To date, the American taxpayer has spent $160
billion to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and experts estimate
those costs could rise to over $1 trillion. Isn't it time we phase them
out of being a government-supported enterprise? So why in the world
would we provide these failing institutions with authority to continue
to buy these high-dollar mortgages? It makes no sense.
My colleagues might recall that in May I offered an amendment to the
financial regulatory reform bill to address the serious problems
surrounding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The amendment was designed to
end the taxpayer-backed conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
by putting in place an orderly transition period and eventually require
them to operate without government subsidies on a level playing field
with their private sector competitors. Unfortunately, but not
surprisingly, that amendment failed.
The time has come to end Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's taxpayer-backed
free ride and require them to operate on a level playing field. Fannie
and Freddie continue to post loss after loss and are failing right in
front of our eyes. For Congress to yet again allow them to continue
business as usual is the height of irresponsibility.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, a cursory review of the record will
indicate that the Appropriations Committee has 12 subcommittees. Eleven
of these subcommittees have reported their bills to the full committee,
and they have all passed. They are on the desk, ready to go. But
something has happened in the interim.
I ask my colleagues to keep in mind that the bulk of them--by that, I
mean nine of the subcommittee bills--were passed by the middle of July.
That is a long time ago. We have had hearings with not one or two
witnesses but hundreds of witnesses. We have discussed and debated all
of the items in the measure, and we present that to the floor and we
try to schedule them, but there are holds and threats of filibuster and
such. Therefore, I want the Senate to know that the Appropriations
Committee has done its utmost to make certain that these measures are
passed in the regular order.
One subcommittee has not been able to conclude its resolution because
a new budget agreement just came in--a budget amendment which the
committee has to consider, and therefore they have to look it over. We
are not just cursorily rubberstamping every budget amendment.

Amendment No. 4674

(Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)

Mr. President, I have a substitute amendment at the desk, and I ask
for its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

The Senator from Hawaii [Mr. Inouye] proposes an amendment
numbered 4674.

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading
of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of
Amendments.'')
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator withhold his suggestion for a
quorum call.
Mr. INOUYE. I will. I did not see the Senator from Oklahoma.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma is recognized.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I wish to spend a few minutes talking
about where we are. There is no question the chairman of the
Appropriations Committee has finished his bills, and they have not come
up. But the quality of the work doesn't meet with the depth of the
problem we have today, No. 1; No. 2, it doesn't address the concerns of
the American public.
So we are going to have a continuing resolution that we are going to
pass through this body tonight, probably by a vote of about 80 to 20 or
75 to 25. But the signal we are sending is based on our tin ear. We are
going to continue spending at the same rate we have been spending. We
are borrowing $4.2 billion a day under this continuing resolution. The
government now is twice as big, in terms of expenditures, not including
the war, as it was in 1999. We are not addressing what the American
people want us to address; that is, that we ought to start living
within our means.
I will not offer an amendment to the bill. There are several
amendments. My colleague from South Dakota offered one that will bring
us back to 2008 levels, but that is not enough. The fact is, we have to
engage the American public in what is rightfully a cogent criticism of
the Congress; that is, that we are allowing wasteful Washington
spending to go on, not by intent--and I am not questioning anybody's
motives--but the fact is, we have not done our job in terms of
oversight.
We heard Senator McCain talk about the tax cuts and raising taxes
during a very soft economic time. The vast majority of the Americans
don't want us to do that. I don't know why we are not discussing it,
and I don't know why we are leaving town before we send that signal,
but that is way above my pay grade.
What I will tell you is, I can take any group of Americans and sit
down and go through this with them and show them, without question,
$350 billion worth of waste every year in the Federal Government. The
amendment of my colleague from South Dakota is cutting less than $50
billion from what we are going to spend--in fact, we did it in 2008,
other than for homeland security, defense, and veterans. So even though
I love what my colleague is doing, it doesn't go nearly far enough
compared to what the real need is for us.
There are two real needs. One, if we are going to finance the debt we
have today, we have to send a message and signal to the world that we
are interested in getting our house back in order, that we are
interested in becoming efficient, and interested in becoming austere
with our taxpayers' money. The second message we need to send is to
those who have capital in this country; that they, in fact, can have
confidence that we are going to right this ship, and we will start
seeing them deploy some of those assets to create the very jobs we so
desperately want for the American people who do not have them today.
I have been here long enough to know what is going to happen. But
what I wish to do is register my dissatisfaction that we are not
addressing the real problems in front of our country today. Instead, we
are ducking out on tough decisions so we can go home--and I am up for
reelection as well--and get to the voters. My question is a much more
powerful message than going to the voters; it is us making hard choices
that the American people want us to make.
This week, the 2010 fiscal year is coming to a close. On October 1,
2010, it will become the new budget year. Here is what we failed to do
as a body--our fault just as much as yours. We didn't pass a budget. We
didn't set priorities. We didn't decide where to spend and where to
save. We didn't pay for new spending--$266 billion in the last 6 months
in this Congress on new spending that we waived pay-go on and borrowed
it against our children. We didn't pass any appropriations bills. We
didn't make any tough choices. We didn't conduct any significant
oversight on the waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government or
the duplication in the Federal Government. We didn't eliminate any
duplicative or ineffective programs--not one. We didn't do our job. No
wonder America is disgusted with us.
What did we do? We increased the debt limit to more than $14
trillion. We added more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit and charged
it to our grandchildren. We ignored the Constitution and expanded
Washington's reach into our private lives, shrinking freedom

[[Page S7706]]

and growing government. We put ourselves first and the country second.
Despite promises from us that government programs can solve every
challenge, taxpayers are getting ripped off. We sent $1 trillion of
their income to the Treasury this year just to watch it waste $350
billion. At the same time, we created a lot of new programs, and some
people are very proud of them. I am very worried about them. But I give
you the credit that you went down the road you thought was right and
did it.
The real problem is, we are continuing the same old habits. The real
issue is, until we truly understand the severity of the difficulty we
are in and start acting like we understand it, this ship is going to
continue to sink. We are not going to create the confidence in the
American public or the $2 trillion that is sitting on the sidelines
right now if, in fact, they had a clear signal it would start flowing
into investment and capital that would create jobs.
Last December, my office spent 3 weeks just looking at duplicative
programs. When we passed the debt limit, we agreed with an amendment I
inserted that the GAO would give us a list of those. They are starting
that work, and this February we will see the first large tranche of
that. It is going to take 3 years to compile that because the
government is so big.
We ought to have a little taste, and the American people ought to
have a little taste, of what we didn't get rid of and didn't fix. We
have 1,399 Federal programs that serve rural America; 337 of them are
considered key. One thousand of them aren't considered key. They are
not considered substantive. That is before you even take the test of
saying whether they are authorized by the U.S. Constitution.
The Federal Government operates 70 programs costing tens of billions
of dollars that provide domestic food assistance--70 different
programs--and many of them overlap or are inefficient. Most of them
cannot demonstrate they are effective. That is according to a recent
review by the Government Accounting Office. We didn't fix it. We could
have saved taxpayers some of that money. There are 14 programs
administered by the U.S. Department of Education related to foreign
exchanges and designed to increase opportunities for students to study
abroad. Why do we have 14 programs? Why not have one good one that
meets the needs of Americans?
We fund 44 job training programs, administered by 9 Federal agencies
across the bureaucracy. The cost is $30 billion a year, and we don't
know what the overhead is because we have 44 programs instead of 2 or
3. We didn't address any of that. There are 17 offender reentry
programs across 5 Federal agencies, costing $\1/4\ billion. There has
been no oversight. In other words, we have not looked where the
problems are. We have not looked to say: How do we make this government
more efficient?
What we have done is to say we are going to raise taxes--or at least
we are not going to vote on raising taxes until after the election. No
matter whether you are middle income, lower income, or upper income, it
makes no sense for us to say we need more money here, when we will not
do the very simple job of eliminating the waste.
I don't question the motivation for job training programs; I think
they are necessary. I don't question the motivation for food programs;
I think they are necessary. But 44 and 70 different programs, with 70
sets of bureaucracies and 44 sets of bureaucracies? Then we are going
to tell Americans they should pay more tax, when we will not even do
the simple thing to save $100 million here or there. With a $30 billion
program, if you save 10 percent, that is $3 billion. So all you have to
save is one-tenth of 1 percent or three-tenths of 1 percent. We will
not even do that.
I have a book full of duplicative programs. It is available to
anybody who wants it. We ought to ask what kind of rating or grade
would the American people give us--Republicans and Democrats alike--in
terms of running the government, funding the government, and working to
make the government efficient and effective. I don't think we have any
good defense. I think people's intentions around here are excellent,
but we never get around to the hard work of holding the bureaucracies
accountable.
Senator Carper had a great hearing today on the Defense Department
and the fact that the Defense Department is trying to get where they
can manage what they are doing by measuring it with a significant
system, in terms of IT. It is just $6.9 billion over budget. Where is
the oversight on that procurement? What the GAO said is the following:
The management was ineffective at looking at those programs. The
management was ineffective in the testing of those programs during
their development. The management was ineffective in terms of the
procurement of those programs. When I asked the heads of every branch
in the military whether they agreed with that, they said, yes, they
agreed they were ineffective.
We don't have anything in the appropriations bills to change that
effectiveness. We didn't have anything in the Defense authorization
bill to change that effectiveness. We are just going to let it go on,
and next year it will be $7.9 billion or $8.9 billion over. So we are
not doing our job.
That is not to question my colleagues' motive; it is to raise the
awareness that the jig is up. The American people know we are not doing
our job. They want us to start doing our job--both Republicans and
Democrats.
We have several colleagues on the floor. Rather than take more time,
I just note that I am consistent in terms of coming down here and
worrying about our future. I have done so for 5\1/2\ years--much to the
chagrin of a lot of my colleagues. I wish to leave you with one
statement.
Our children deserve to have the same opportunities in this country
that we have experienced. By us failing to do the very duties that are
called upon us in a rational, straightforward basis, of doing oversight
of the Federal Government and making the hard choices, we abandon our
oath, but, more importantly, we steal the heritage that was given to
us.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.

Amendment No. 4676 to Amendment No. 4674

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to call up my
amendment No. 4676 and ask that it be made pending.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will report.
The assistant editor of the Daily Digest read as follows:

The Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Thune] proposes an
amendment numbered 4676 to amendment No. 4674.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of
the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:

(Purpose: To reduce spending other than national security spending by 5
percent)

Strike section 101 and insert the following:
Sec. 101. (a) Such amounts as may be necessary, at a rate
for operations as provided in the applicable appropriations
Acts for fiscal year 2010 and under the authority and
conditions provided in such Acts, for continuing projects or
activities (including the costs of direct loans and loan
guarantees) that are not otherwise specifically provided for
in this Act, that were conducted in fiscal year 2010, and for
which appropriations, funds, or other authority were made
available in the following appropriations Acts:
(1) Division A of the Department of Defense Appropriations
Act, 2010 (division A of Public Law 111-118).
(2) The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act,
2010 (Public Law 111-83) and section 601 of the Supplemental
Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-212).
(3) The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and
Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010, division E of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-117).
(4) Chapter 3 of title I of the Supplemental Appropriations
Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-212), except for appropriations
under the heading ``Operation and Maintenance'' relating to
Haiti following the earthquake of January 12, 2010, or the
Port of Guam: Provided, That the amount provided for the
Department of Defense pursuant to this paragraph shall not
exceed a rate for operations of $29,387,401,000: Provided
further, That the Secretary of Defense shall allocate such
amount to each appropriation account, budget activity,
activity group, and subactivity group, and to each program,
project, and activity within each appropriation account, in
the same proportions as such appropriations for fiscal year
2010.
(5) Section 102(c) of chapter 1 of title I of the
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-212)
that addresses guaranteed loans in the rural housing
insurance fund.
(6) The appropriation under the heading ``Department of
Commerce--United States

[[Page S7707]]

Patent and Trademark Office'' in the United States Patent and
Trademark Office Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010
(Public Law 111-224).
(b) Such amounts as may be necessary, at a rate for
operations 5 percent less than the applicable appropriations
Acts for fiscal year 2010 and under the authority and
conditions provided in such Acts, for continuing projects or
activities (including the costs of direct loans and loan
guarantees) that are not otherwise specifically provided for
in this Act, that were conducted in fiscal year 2010, and for
which appropriations, funds, or other authority were made
available in the following appropriations Acts:
(1) The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010
(Public Law 111-80).
(2) The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-85).
(3) The Department of the Interior, Environment, and
Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 (division A of
Public Law 111-88).
(4) The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2010
(division A of Public Law 111-68).
(5) The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law
111-117), except for division E.

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, as you know, the budget-appropriations
process has broken down. Neither the House nor the Senate passed a
budget resolution which provides a basic roadmap for our spending
decisions for the next fiscal year.
As a result of not having a budget, not a single appropriations bill
has been signed into law for the new fiscal year that starts tomorrow
at midnight. The House has passed only 2 of its 12 appropriations
bills. Unfortunately, this 17-percent batting average, 17-percent
success rate surpasses the Senate which has failed to pass any of the
12 appropriations bills.
Because of this, we find ourselves considering a measure to provide
stopgap funding through December 3 to provide more time for completion
of our annual appropriations bills.
This delay and lack of floor debate on any of the annual
appropriations bills has prevented us from having a much needed debate
on the size of government and the amount of money we should be
spending.
Keep in mind, the overall growth in nondefense spending since 2008
has amounted to roughly 21 percent at a time when inflation has
amounted to only 3.5 percent. This excludes any mention of the $814
billion stimulus bill.
The continuing resolution before us today seeks to provide funding at
the same rate as fiscal year 2010. I will say that I am somewhat
pleased to see that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have
not attempted to add other funding measures to this measure. That is
commendable that we at least are going to do a continuing resolution
that is relatively speaking clean. It would be my preference to dial
back the overall spending level to the fiscal year 2008 levels.
I have introduced legislation that will do just that, as have some of
my colleagues. Senator Inhofe from Oklahoma has a bill that will do
that. Some of my House colleagues have come up with a similar proposal
that will do that. I guess I would say to my colleague from Oklahoma
who just got up and spoke and mentioned this amendment probably does
not go far enough that I do not disagree. Frankly, I would like to see
us go back to the 2008 levels.
What I am trying to do today is seek the support of my colleagues to
at least take a measured step in reducing discretionary spending. My
amendment simply seeks to reduce by 5 percent accounts not related to
defense, homeland security, or veterans. This would not affect funding
for the START treaty or any of the other new provisions in this
continuing resolution.
On an annualized rate, it would, however, save us about $22 billion
compared to the $1.25 trillion score that CBO has provided for the
proposed continuing resolution before us today.
While this is a modest number and it is not going to solve our debt
problems overnight, it is a necessary first step to reduce spending.
Since nondefense discretionary spending has grown over 21 percent in
the last 2 years--again, at a time when inflation was only 3.5
percent--I think the least we can do is support this reasonable
reduction until we return after the election to decide what the
remaining funding level should be for the fiscal year 2011 spending
bills.
To put things into context as my colleague from Oklahoma, who just
finished speaking, has done, we are looking at a $13.4 trillion debt.
Our deficit for 2010 is estimated to be $1.3 trillion. About 40 cents
out of every dollar that is spent in Washington, DC, by the Federal
Government now is borrowed.
If we look at the last 34 years, there have only been four times--4
years--where all the appropriations bills have been passed on schedule.
If we actually did go to a freeze at 2008 spending levels and index
it for inflation, it would save $450 billion over 10 years. That makes
a lot of sense.
As I said, that is legislation I introduced earlier. At a minimum,
what we ought to be able to do is say to the American people, at a time
when many of their family budgets are shrinking, at a time when they
are trying to make ends meet, that we get it. In Washington, DC, we
understand: You want our Federal Government to do with a little bit
less.
What I am proposing is a 5-percent haircut; that is all, 5 percent.
That is the least we can do for the American people at a time when, as
I said, we are running these $1.3 trillion deficits and have future
generations of Americans faced with a massive amount of debt that will
be on their backs for generations to come.
I hope today we can find the political will in the Senate to take
what I think is a very modest, a very measured approach to reduce
spending in this continuing resolution by 5 percent. When we come back
in December, we can have a full-blown debate about what the size of
government should be, which we should be having now and should have
been having throughout the course of these last few months when these
appropriations bills should have been debated and should have passed a
budget.
That being said, we do not have a budget. We have not passed
appropriations bills. We are where we are. The least we can do, in
fairness to the American people, the taxpayers of this country, is send
a clear message to them that we are going to do a modest amount, at
least a 5-percent reduction over last year's level in this continuing
resolution and try in a very small way to get some of the overspending
that is occurring in Washington, DC, under control.
Mr. President, 21 percent over the past 2 years at a time when the
inflation rate was 3.5 percent, meaning that we are spending at the
Federal level five to six times the rate of inflation, what the rate of
price increases are across this country for most Americans. That is not
fair to the American taxpayers. I hope my colleagues will support this
amendment.
The Senator from Massachusetts is here. I believe he wants to speak
as well to this issue and to this amendment. I yield as much time to
him as he may consume.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for
yielding. I stand here in support of the Thune amendment and thank him
for his leadership on this good first step.
To me, it is pure common sense. I agree with everything he has said
in terms of we have overspent. It is time to draw a line in the sand,
lead by example, and show the American people that they are doing
without, and we can do without.
We are only talking about 5 percent. It is $22 billion. I remember--
it seems like 10 years ago I got here. I remember being in the
Massachusetts Legislature, and we were throwing around millions. Here
they throw around trillions like it is nothing. I know it is only $22
billion we can save, which is still real money where I come from, and
so over $300 billion potentially over a 10-year period.
It is time. It is time to start leading by example. It is time to
show we can also make some cuts. Quite frankly, I do not think they
will hurt. We need to send a signal to our constituents and to the rest
of the world that we are trying to finally get our fiscal house in
order.
I just met with representatives from Great Britain. They are doing
across the board a 25-percent cut. They recognize they do not want to
be in a similar financial predicament as other countries in that part
of the world. They are sending a very powerful bipartisan message to
the people in that country

[[Page S7708]]

that they have to get their fiscal house in order. We need to start
sending that very same powerful fiscal message to do the same thing.
I remember when I got here back in the beginning of January, the
national debt was about $11.95 trillion. As Senator Thune just pointed
out, it is almost $13.3 trillion or $13.4 trillion right now. That is
less than 7 months. Our deficit is over $1 trillion.
At what point do we eliminate the inefficiencies and duplications
throughout our Federal Government, as Senator Coburn has identified
cuts in many wasteful programs? I agree with him. We have to start
somewhere. Can we not do just one thing--just one, that is it--to show
the American people that, yes, we get it, we feel your pain, we get it.
It is time. They are sending a very powerful message. They sent it in
January and they are sending it again that they are tired of
overspending, they are tired of deficit spending, they are tired of
overtaxing. We have to get our fiscal house in order.
I thank Senator Thune for his leadership and Senator Coburn for
taking the time to find all these duplicate programs.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, before the Senator from Massachusetts
yields the floor, will he yield for a question?
Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts. Yes.
Mr. THUNE. I ask the Senator from Massachusetts if he is hearing from
his constituents back in his State the same message I hear from my
constituents in South Dakota; that is, we are experiencing economic
difficulties. In this economic downturn, many people lost jobs, many
had a loss of income, many family budgets are being squeezed.
Does not the Senator from Massachusetts hear the same thing from his
constituents I hear from South Dakotans; that is, we want the Federal
Government to lead by example, and rather than growing at four, five,
six times the rate of inflation, actually take some steps to get its
spending under control in the same fashion, the same way we are having
to do it?
That is what I hear from people in South Dakota. They are tired. They
think the Federal Government is growing too fast, has gotten too big.
They think it is a runaway train, especially when it is running $1.3
trillion annual deficits.
I think 5 percent on this particular continuing resolution, this
funding bill is a modest amount that at least most of my constituents
would think is reasonable.
I ask the Senator from Massachusetts if he thinks his constituents
believe this Federal Government could live with 5 percent less at a
time when they are living with a lot less in many circumstances?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for
his question. I commend his constituents on having the foresight to
instruct him and let him know they are hurting. The people in my State
are hurting also. They are absolutely concerned about the disconnect
between Washington and the State I represent.
What I notice not only in Massachusetts but my travels throughout the
country is that they believe the people in Washington go around saying:
You are great, you are great, everything is wonderful, there is no
recession in Washington. All the restaurants are full. The housing
market is great. Everything is great around here. But outside that,
they say: He doesn't get it; she doesn't get it; we are going to make a
statement pretty darn soon.
They are absolutely looking for fiscal leadership. Listen, there is
absolutely a role for government. Government needs to know when to get
out of the way also. It needs to know when to get out of the way and
let free enterprise and the free market take shape and let us get the
economy going through something besides government-created jobs.
I thank the Senator for his question. I agree wholeheartedly, yes,
there is a great concern that we are overspending, we are overtaxing,
we are overregulating, and we need to make sure this gesture, this 5
percent--I do not want to throw billions around like it is not money,
but compared to the trillions we are all used to dealing with here, it
is not big money. But I tell you what, it is a very good start. It
sends a very powerful message to the people in Massachusetts and
throughout the rest of this country and the world that a group of
Senators have finally gotten together and have sent a message to the
rest of the administration and to the folks that we are going to start
to do one thing--just one thing: to start to get our fiscal house in
order.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, if I might just say to the Senator from
Massachusetts, again, I appreciate his willingness to come down here
and express his support for this amendment. The Senator from South
Carolina is here. I expect he will speak too. He has an amendment he
would like to offer as well.
Most Americans believe government spends too much, especially at a
time when their budgets, as I said, have been shrinking.
This is the kind of amendment that ought to attract broad bipartisan
support. We are going to fund the government with this continuing
resolution until December 3 because, again, we have not passed any
appropriations bills or a budget--which, by the way is a discussion,
perhaps, for another day but one that I think needs to be joined, a
debate that needs to be joined, and that is, what are we going to do to
fix this broken-down budget process that year after year puts us in a
position where, at the very end of the fiscal year, we have to pass a
continuing resolution because we have not gotten our work done? That is
an incredibly strange way to run a $3.5 trillion enterprise like the
Federal Government.
I think the American people deserve better. They need a budget
process that has some teeth in it, that is binding, that makes sense,
where there is an appropriate role for oversight, as the Senator from
Oklahoma pointed out--all the agencies where there is duplication and
redundancy where we can find savings. We don't do a lot of that around
here because we have a budget process that has broken down.
I have a bill to reform the budget process which, again, I hope is
something we can undertake. It is not going to happen now because we
are going to wrap things up here this week, it seems. I would be happy
to stay around and talk about budget reform, but I think a lot of my
colleagues have other things and other places they want to go.
In the meantime, let's at least do something here that will rein in
Federal spending and send a very important message and signal to the
American people, who have been hurting: The Federal Government here in
Washington doesn't live in a bubble, we actually get it, we are
listening to the voices of the American people, and we can find a mere
5 percent in our Federal budget, this massive Federal budget, and
demonstrate we are willing to tighten our belt a little bit, consistent
with what is happening to the American people and the experience they
are having in this economic downturn.
I reserve the remainder of my time. I do not know how much time I
have left, but I reserve the remainder of my time on this amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has consumed all of his time on
the amendment.
The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I commend Senator Thune for, again, a very
small request of the Senate to continue to fund the government at a 5-
percent reduction. It is hardly a radical idea--except in Washington. I
hope my colleagues will support that.
I would like to talk about another amendment for a minute, but first
I think we need to address what I think has been the most irresponsible
Congress I have seen in my time here.
Over the last 4 years, the majority has almost doubled the national
debt of all previous Presidents in 4 years. We are on that track to do
it. This year, things are so bad that we didn't even bother to do a
budget. We are not going to show the American people what we plan to
spend, what things are costing.
We are trying to get out of town today without passing funding bills
to keep the government operating. We have to do a little makeshift
continuing resolution. But we are getting out of town without
addressing the fact that we are getting ready to stick the American
people with one of the largest tax increases in history. By not doing
anything, we are voting with our feet to raise taxes on everyone from

[[Page S7709]]

the lowest income to the largest corporation, to tax dividends at a
higher level, to tax death at a higher level. We are just leaving town.
In the meantime, as people are getting ready to leave town, there are
20 or 30 bills that folks here would like to pass in secret, by
unanimous consent, without a vote, without any debate. Some of them
have some pretty big price tags. And they are squealing like someone is
doing them wrong if we ask for a day or two to read these bills, to see
what they cost, to see what they would do to our country.
There is a sense of entitlement here that we have to pass their bill;
it is some kind of emergency. But their bills have been hanging around
here for months. One of them I just saw was from December of 2009. They
are not emergencies, but we have to pass them but we are not going to
do the business of the American people. We are not going to carry out
our constitutional responsibility to set a budget, to appropriate money
for the operation of our government, but we want to get our bills
passed and we want to go home.
What we are doing is we are going to pass a continuing resolution
tonight to fund the government until December. But the only reason to
fund it until December is so we have to come back after the election in
a lameduck Congress and pass another spending bill to keep our
government going until the new Congress comes in. I think the only
reason to do that is so Senators who are not coming back can come here
and pass an omnibus spending bill with thousands of earmarks that
people have come to expect, so they can take home the bacon to their
States one last time.
There is no reason for us to have a continuing resolution that ends
in December. We are going to have to come back and use the threat of a
government shutdown to force through a bigger spending bill. We should
not do that in the chaos after the election.
My amendment would take the exact same continuing resolution that
everyone is going to agree on tonight and have it expire on February 4,
after we have sworn in a new Congress, after the dust has settled. Then
we can make a good decision with people who maybe represent the voices
of the American people a little better because they have just come in
off of the campaign trail. Instead of passing something in the chaos of
November and December, let's do something that is more responsible and
more focused.
My amendment is the exact same as the amendment tonight. The only
thing it does is it strikes December 3, 2010, and inserts February 4,
2011, so it does not end, there is no emergency, there is no crisis,
and there is no threat of a government shutdown. We come back in
November and hopefully stop the tax increases and then go home and
start over with the new Congress, with folks who are representing the
voices of the American people.
My hope is that my colleagues will support this amendment. There is
no reason not to support it unless you want to come back here in
November and increase spending, pass an omnibus and pass all of these
porkbarrel earmarks to take home one last time.
I encourage my colleagues to support the amendment. I understand we
will have a vote on it later this evening, and I will reserve the
remainder of my time.

Amendment No. 4677 to Amendment No. 4674

Mr. President, I understand I need to offer the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the clerk will report the
Senator's amendment.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

The Senator from South Carolina [Mr. DeMINT] proposes an
amendment numbered 4677 to amendment No. 4674: Section 106(3)
of the bill is amended by striking ``December 3, 2010''
and inserting ``February 4, 2011''.

Mr. DeMINT. Thank you. I didn't think it would be too painful to read
that whole thing at this time. This is one I can guarantee I read.
Do I need to ask for a recorded vote at this time?
Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, if I may again repeat, in June of this
year, 9 of the 11 subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee passed
their bills in the full committee and reported to the desk. They are
all at the desk. But somebody held it up, and I can assure you none of
us held it up.
I rise to speak against the amendment just submitted by Senator
DeMint, which would extend the CR from the current expiration date of
December 3 to February 4 of next year.
I am certain most of my colleagues are aware that the government
frequently operates under a short-term continuing resolution, not
because they like to do it but because it takes time. It is not the
most efficient way to operate. I agree with that. But it is frequently
necessary as we resolve the differences over spending levels.
While our agencies decry living under the CR--and I have said many
times that this is not the way to run our government--I believe these
agencies have learned to operate in the short term, and I emphasize the
two words ``short term.'' This CR was crafted with a very narrow focus
in the expectation that it would only last 2 months. It was agreed upon
by both leaders, the majority and minority leaders.
The minimal authorization extensions were included in a bipartisan
attempt to keep this bill as clean as possible. Many requested
anomalies were excluded because it was clear the CR would expire on
December 3. Hopefully, the Congress will have concluded its work by
that date. If not, a new CR will be required, and I can assure my
colleagues that it will be significantly longer than this bill, with
many more anomalies to cover exceptions that must be continued if this
CR is extended.
A short-term CR is not efficient, as I have said before, but it is
manageable. However, each week we go beyond that period, we further
damage the ability of the government to function effectively. For
example, contract awards can be delayed a month or two but not for 4
months.
The Appropriations Committee has worked very hard. We have held many
hearings, heard from hundreds of witnesses--not just the administration
but opposition witnesses--and in a truly bipartisan fashion come to an
agreement on the CR we have before us. A large part of that effort was
based on the good-faith assumption that once we agreed on an end date--
in this case, December 3--Members and staff would use that date to
properly identify programs that needed adjustments in order to function
as they were intended.
If we accept this amendment and arbitrarily change the end date to
February 4 of next year, we will ensure that the exact opposite will
happen: The Government will not function as it should. Let me offer a
few specific examples.
As chairman of the Defense Subcommittee, I know there are programs
essential to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that would be disrupted
if the Senate were to arbitrarily change the end date of the CR. To say
that our troops deserve better is an understatement of the highest
order. As a specific example, the Defense Subcommittee carefully
reviewed the plans of the Department of Defense and the Department of
State for the authorities under the Pakistan counterinsurgency fund.
This authority allows the Secretary of Defense, with the concurrence of
the Secretary of State, to provide funding for initiatives to reduce
the terrorist presence in Pakistan. The subcommittee concluded that a
2-month delay would have minimal negative impact. However, stretching
beyond 2 months could seriously erode our counterinsurgency efforts in
Pakistan.
As my colleagues know, new starts are prohibited under CRs, so a CR
through February 4 would restrict the DOD from proceeding with any new
military construction projects during the first third of the fiscal
year. Losing 4 months of the year before DOD can begin to implement its
2011 construction program puts the timely execution of the entire
program at risk. Fifty percent of the requested funding is anticipated
to be awarded by the end of February 2011.
A longer term CR would result in untimely delays for implementing
certain farm bill programs, as requested by the Office of Management
and Budget. The delay would present shortfalls in funding for food and
drug safety approval programs at the Food Safety and Inspection Service
and the Food and Drug Administration due to a shortfall in the budget
authority.

[[Page S7710]]

A longer term CR would result in untimely delays for implementing
certain farm bill programs, as requested by OMB. The delay would
present shortfalls in funding for food and drug safety and approval
programs at the Food Safety and Inspection Service and Food and Drug
Administration due to a shortfall in new budget authority. In addition,
if the child nutrition reauthorization is not approved, a further
delayed CR will result in reduced food services for children.
As another example, the administration sought to extend a highway
provision of interest to Maine and Vermont but since it does not expire
until December 17, it was not necessary to include in this CR. But if
the CR does not expire until February, that provision is needed.
A final example. The delays that would result from this amendment
would stall the implementation of all planned new law enforcement
initiatives at the Justice Department, including $366 million in new
national security spending intended to improve the FBI's cyber
security, WMD and counterterrorism capabilities and to assist in the
litigation of intelligence and terrorism cases.
This CR was negotiated in good faith, it has bipartisan support, and
it ensures the government will continue to operate in good order until
December 3. This amendment violates all three of those tenets.
Arbitrarily changing the end date violates our good faith, is highly
partisan, and ensures that the government will not function as it
should.
For all of these reasons I urge my colleagues to vote ``no''.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask that the
time be divided equally.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. FRANKEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Begich.) Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. FRANKEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5
minutes as in morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(The remarks of Mr. Franken pertaining to the introduction of S. 3888
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills
and Joint Resolutions.'')
Mr. FRANKEN. Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence
of a quorum and ask that the time be divided equally between both
sides.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LeMIEUX. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum
call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. LeMIEUX. Mr. President, in a moment I will request unanimous
consent to address an issue important to the people of Florida having
to do with the EPA and a mandate set to go into effect next month. The
timing of this effort is critical. That is why I take the extraordinary
measure of bringing it to the Senate floor today. I wish to make it
clear that this effort is bipartisan. I am joined by the senior Senator
from my State, Mr. Nelson, in this request. If we don't act, something
is going to happen to Florida that will have a grave impact upon our
economy. Although this is a Florida-specific issue now, it will have an
impact on other States and set a precedent as time goes by.
Let me describe my amendment. Then I will talk about the issue. The
amendment would prohibit the EPA from using any of the funds in the
continuing resolution to implement or enforce the water standard rules
that it is working on for Florida. Due to a consent decree between a
group in the EPA which is part of a lawsuit, the rule setting water
quality standards for inland waters in Florida is set to be finalized
on October 15. It singles out Florida and only Florida for these new
water standards. However, how this rule is promulgated will serve as a
template for how rules are promulgated against other States. For
example, EPA is already looking into an effort to promulgate these
standards for the Chesapeake Bay area.
We are not against clean water. In fact, Florida has been working on
clean water issues for some time and has made remarkable progress.
However, this proposal is going to have a dramatic impact on the State
of Florida without peer-reviewed science as the basis of this rule.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an Article from
the Jacksonville Business Journal.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:

[From the Business Journal, Sept. 24, 2010]

Jacksonville Sewer Charges Could Double

JEA CEO Jim Dickenson said the utility's sewer rates could
nearly double by 2014 if new federal regulations require JEA
to spend $1.3 billion to remove more nitrogen from its sewage
plant discharges.
Companies and hospitals--including Anheuser-Busch InBev,
Southeast Atlantic Beverage Co., St. Vincent's Medical Center
and Mayo Clinic Florida--are expected to be hit the hardest
if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency toughens its
pollution standards in 2012. The new rules, which will also
make new development projects costlier, make Florida less
competitive with its less regulated Southeast competitors,
said Keyna Corey, spokeswoman for Associated Industries of
Florida, a business lobbying group with about 8,000 members.
``We're not against keeping the water clean,'' she said.
``I can't recruit a company to a dirty state, but we are
going to lose jobs because Florida is the only one doing
it.''
The EPA's nutrient-criteria mandate is expected to deal an
annual $1.1 billion blow to the state's agriculture industry,
costing about 14,500 jobs, Corey said. The new rules are
expected to cost the pulp and paper industry more than $169
million annually. The EPA's push for more stringent water
pollution rules came after environmental groups, including
the St. Johns Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club, sued the
agency in 2008, alleging the agency wasn't enforcing the
federal Clean Water Act strongly enough in Florida. Under
the settlement, tougher criteria will come in mid-October
regarding nutrient levels in the state's rivers, streams,
springs and lakes.
Nitrogen is the main type of nutrient the EPA wants to
reduce in water bodies, because in high concentrations, it
can create algae blooms, which can cause fish kills, a
localized die-off of the fish population. The St. Johns River
was plagued by algae blooms and fish kills this summer.
Dickenson is worried that the $400 million the utility has
already spent to reduce nutrient discharges won't satisfy the
EPA when it applies the new criteria to the state's
estuaries, canals and coastal waters in 2012. If these past
projects--aimed at meeting the federal total maximum daily
limits rule--don't meet EPA's new mandate, JEA would have to
spend $1.3 billion or more to meet the higher standards,
since the majority of its wastewater discharges are in the
coastal region. The utility has 44 sewage plants.
To pay for the required upgrades, sewer rates would nearly
double, causing the average residential sewer rate to
increase annually to about $1,400, Dickenson said. The
average sewer rate for commercial and industrial JEA
customers isn't known, but the rates are expected to be
affected similarly.
If the EPA mandate ``would actually help the environment,
there would be no objection,'' said Paul Steinbrecher, JEA's
director of environmental services, permitting and
assessments.
He said JEA's past work to accommodate the TMDL limits
brings nutrient levels to the natural level and he is unsure
how levels could be further reduced under the new criteria.
The amount of nitrogen discharged annually by the average
JEA residential user has decreased from 13 pounds in 1975 to
about 2.2 pounds, Dickenson said.
``If we'd known the EPA would change the rules midstream,
we'd have done our TMDL projects differently,'' Dickenson
said.
The EPA projects the annual cost of meeting the new
criteria to be $130 million for all utilities in Florida.
Darryll Joyner, chief of the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection's bureau of assessment and
restoration support, said that's not nearly enough. He
projected the actual cost at between $5 billion and $8
billion. The EPA was not available for comment.
Joyner said JEA's $1.3 billion estimate on how much it
would have to pay to meet the criteria is correct. He is
optimistic that the DEP will be able to make the case to the
EPA that improvement gained through meeting the less-
stringent TMDL requirements will satisfy the new criteria.
Steinbrecher said he hopes Joyner is right, but the EPA's
decision to allow it to enter a ``legal no-man's-land law''
doesn't instill him with confidence.

Mr. LeMIEUX. This rule is going to deal a $1.1 billion blow to the
State's agricultural industry. A joint study by the Florida Department
of Agriculture and Consumer Services in the University of Florida
projects that it could cost in total up to $1.6 billion a year and
eliminate 14,500 jobs. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates it

[[Page S7711]]

to cost more than between $5 and $8 billion. Water utilities in Florida
have estimated that sewer rates would increase by $62 per month or more
than $700 per year.
This article from the Jacksonville Business Journal talks about sewer
charges doubling in Jacksonville because of the water standard that has
not been peer reviewed and does not have the scientific basis it
should.
Today, because I was coming to offer this unanimous consent proposal,
the EPA has issued a 30-day stay of execution on the implementation of
this rule. It was supposed to be October 15. Now it will be November
14. Conveniently, that is the day before we are likely to come back in
November and bring Congress back into session. So we will be unable to
continue this during our recess. This will most likely go into effect
and do damage to Florida.
This is a bipartisan effort. In fact, on the House side, members of
our delegation, some 20 of the 25--I believe it is 21, actually--have
come together to support not letting this rule go into effect. Senator
Nelson and I make this request.
I ask unanimous consent that the LeMieux-Nelson amendment be
considered and agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the
table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Cardin, chairman of
the subcommittee that has jurisdiction over this measure, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. LeMIEUX. If I may, that is unfortunate. It is unfortunate because
this is a bipartisan agreement. This damage is going to be done to
Florida, a State that is suffering from the worst unemployment that
anyone can remember, nearly 12 percent, and the worst economy that
anyone can remember. Now these ill-conceived rules that don't have a
peer-reviewed scientific basis will go into effect and impact our
economy to the tune of billions of dollars, hurting our workforce and
doubling people's sewer rates at a time when they least can afford it.
It is unfortunate we have an objection when we have both Senators from
Florida, Democratic and Republican, supporting this; when we have the
vast majority of the Florida delegation in the House asking for this
measure to be stated. It is not saying it would not go into effect. It
is asking for more time so there would not be a rush to judgment and it
would not be brought into effect in a hurried manner.
It is unfortunate we have an objection when we have such bipartisan
support.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I am concerned about the problem in
Florida. I am well aware there may be some consternation. But I must
once again remind the Senate that we are now considering the continuing
resolution as a result of a bipartisan agreement reached by the
majority leader and the minority leader. That agreement calls for a
clean CR. There are many amendments that my colleagues would like to
submit, but we have had to say, reluctantly, no. Therefore, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. INOUYE. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I rise to speak against the Thune
amendment. There are a number of reasons the Thune amendment is a bad
idea. A 5-percent cut across the board may seem reasonable, small, and
not a big cut. But it is a devastating cut when Members understand the
specific programmatic impact. A 5-percent cut against non-national
security accounts would be about $20 billion below the current fiscal
year spending level. This cut would be in addition to the current CR
level which is $18 billion below the Sessions amendments offered
earlier this year.
I remind my colleagues that we have a $5 billion problem outside of
all this cutting in terms of addressing the Pell grants shortfall. I
believe the vast majority of my colleagues are in favor of the Pell
grants. I can assure them that the Pell grant problem is not going to
magically cure itself.
Members may try and hide from taking responsibility for the
devastating impacts of a generic across-the-board cut of this
magnitude, but I am standing before my colleagues now and putting
everyone in this Chamber on notice for what the actual impact of
passing this amendment will be.
For starters, let me discuss America's security outside of the
Department of Homeland Security and outside of the department that
handles the southwest border. Cutting funding by 5 percent would mean a
loss of $1.5 billion for the Department of Justice. It is not part of
Homeland Security and not part of the Defense Department. The FBI's
uniform crime report that was just released tells us that violent crime
is down 5.3 percent, a decrease for the third year in a row, and a
total 9 percent drop since 2006. Now is not the time to cut resources
for Federal, State, and local law enforcement partners. We depend on
Federal law enforcement to protect Americans from terrorism and violent
crime and uphold the rule of law.
Cutting Federal law enforcement by 5 percent across the board would
mean 1,650 fewer FBI agents to combat terrorist threats, 420 fewer DEA
agents to reduce the flow of drugs across the U.S.-Mexican border, and
over 2,000 fewer Federal correctional officers to safeguard our
prisons.
In addition to the cuts to the Department of Justice, this amendment
would reduce funding for the Treasury Department's Office of Terrorism
and Financial Intelligence and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network by
$8.8 billion. Cuts of this magnitude would cripple the Treasury
Department's unique efforts to keep our country safe.
Specifically, the Office of Foreign Assets Control would be forced to
cut staff who enforce the Iran and North Korea sanctions programs and
sanctions efforts aimed at al-Qaida and its affiliates, terrorist
groups in Afghanistan, international drug traffickers, and other
national security threats.
The Treasury Department's Office of Intelligence and Analysis would
be forced to cut staff who work to locate hidden funding sources of
terrorist networks. Finally, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
would significantly reduce overseas staff who work with foreign
government counterparts in support of law enforcement efforts,
investigations that protect Americans.
In terms of our consumers and our small business owners, cutting the
budget of the CFTC and the SEC by 5 percent would erode their ability
to conduct necessary oversight of the futures and securities markets,
respectively, at a time when such scrutiny is paramount. Such a move is
simply irresponsible, given the Wall Street scandals that led to the
financial meltdown and economic strife plaguing so many American
households.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle objected to funding any
anomalies that would have allowed these agencies to increase staffing
during the pendency of the continuing resolution to implement the Dodd-
Frank requirements. To insist on a further cut in light of these new
requirements is not responsible. For the CFTC, a rollback would
diminish aggressive efforts in the past 18 months to enhance previously
decimated staffing levels which would not have been adequate to keep
pace with the growing markets the agency oversees.
The SEC would suffer similar erosion of critical seasoned
professionals. During the past 2 years, efforts have been made to
restore staffing shortages. This amendment will force these staff to be
furloughed, which would undermine the significant strides to become a
more aggressive and vigilant protector of American investors.
Funding for the Small Business Administration would be cut at a
critical point in the Nation's economic recovery, severely diminishing
the agency's ability to implement the Small Business Jobs and Credit
Act recently signed into law. Such a cut would hamper the ability of
the Small Business Administration to provide counseling services to
small businesses at a time when they need it most.

[[Page S7712]]

Cuts to Small Business Development Centers, microloan technical
assistance, SCORE, and the Women's Business Centers would be a blow to
SBA's ability to assist citizens trying to start, sustain, or grow
their small businesses.
In terms of public safety, the FAA faces challenges in maintaining an
adequate workforce of trained air traffic controllers. Funding the FAA
at 5 percent below the fiscal year 2010 level would force it to absorb
almost $500 million in cost-of-living and inflation expenses. Since 75
percent of the FAA's operation budget is payroll, the FAA would need to
implement a hiring freeze, thereby reducing its air traffic controller
and inspector workforces, increasing flight delays, and curbing air
travel at many airports.
When it comes to NASA, this amendment would require $936 million less
in funding. I have heard from many Members concerned about job losses
at NASA facilities in their States. I can assure you, the level of
funding that will result from this amendment will only expedite these
losses.
Specifically, this random across-the-board cut will jeopardize
scientific discovery as well as the development of a new heavy-lift
launch vehicle and space capsule, costing thousands of high-tech, high-
skill jobs in States such as Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Colorado. The
United States would abandon the high ground of space to Russia, China,
and Europe, sacrificing our leadership.
In terms of environmental funding, this amendment would require a
$174 million cut to EPA's Clean Water and Drinking Water State
Revolving Funds. That means 58 fewer sewer and water projects in our
communities to ensure clean and safe water.
It would also require a $302 million cut to the basic operating
accounts at the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Fish &
Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. That means
approximately 2,000 fewer Park Rangers, Forest Rangers, refuge
managers, and BLM managers.
The 5-percent cut proposed in this amendment would require the
National Park Service to furlough virtually all of the seasonal
employees that would result in the closing of many National Park
facilities. Further, it would cut energy efficiency and renewable
energy programs by over $145 million, stopping in its tracks evolving
R&D on solar energy and electric vehicles. That is what we have been
talking about here: alternative energy sources. It would cut the
nuclear energy R&D program by $51 million, hampering the nuclear
renaissance, and simultaneously it would hamper the cleanup of our
nuclear weapon and civilian nuclear sites by cutting $366 million from
those programs. This action calls into question our ability to
undertake new weapon and civilian nuclear activities if we cannot deal
with the back end of the programs.
In terms of our senior citizens, the most vulnerable in our society,
this amendment requires a cut of $40 million to senior nutrition
services at the Administration on Aging, which translates into a
reduction of 13 million senior meals.
It also requires a cut of $922 million from the fiscal year 2010
operating level for the Social Security Administration. This would
force the Social Security Administration to furlough employees and
severely increase the waiting times for everyone with a disability
claim, retirement claim, or disability appeal.
In the last 3 years, the number of disability claims SSA has received
has increased 30 percent, the number of disability hearings has
increased 20 percent, and the number of retirement claims has increased
13 percent. By the end of the year, this cut would leave 900,000 more
Americans waiting on a determination of their disability claim, almost
doubling the current backlog, and 150,000 more waiting on an appeal of
their disability case. This would also drastically limit program
integrity efforts that save $7 for every $1 spent.
Section 8 tenant-based rental assistance, which helps the Nation's
most vulnerable individuals and families find and maintain safe and
affordable housing in the private market, would be cut by $816 million,
which would put as many as 85,000 of our country's low-income families,
elderly, and disabled at risk of losing their housing.
Mr. President, I would like to submit for the Record a more
comprehensive list of programs that will be severely impacted by this
amendment. There are too many important programs being impacted by this
amendment and not enough time to discuss them all.
I ask unanimous consent that list be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:

List of Programs Impacted by the Thune Amendment and Level of Impact

The Thune amendment would require:
A $148 million cut to the clinical health services provided
by the Indian Health Service. For some of our most vulnerable
citizens, that means at least 1,000 fewer inpatient
admissions; approximately 200 fewer direct outpatient visits;
and 200 fewer doctors and nurses that are required to staff
the 4 new health care facilities scheduled to open next year.
A $169 million cut to the Forest Service and Interior
Department wildland fire accounts. That could mean as many as
2,560 fewer firefighters next year.
A $22 million cut to the Interior Department's Outer
Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing and inspection
programs. That means a halt to many ongoing reform efforts,
increasing the likelihood of environmental disasters like the
BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and delaying the timeline for
resumption of drilling in Gulf of Mexico deep water.
A $38 million cut to the Smithsonian Institution. That
means rolling closures of museums on the Mall and stopping
construction of the African American Museum of History and
Culture.
The Thune amendment would cut $1.16 billion in
discretionary spending for agricultural programs which will
result in cuts to nutrition programs, food safety, rural
housing, conservation, drug inspection, and farm service
programs among others.
Specifically, cuts to the Food Safety program would reduce
current levels for meat and poultry inspections, and cuts to
FDA would reduce current levels for drug and food safety
inspections (including imports) and drug approvals.
Both the Bush and Obama administrations have pushed the
goal to double funding for science programs over 10 years--
this amendment would put that initiative in reverse by
cutting over $300 million from DOE's Office of Science
program. This will severely impact the United States ability
to compete internationally.
The nuclear non-proliferation program would lose $139
million. This would be lunacy in the face of bi-partisan
acknowledgement of the threat posed to the United States by
unsecured nuclear material in the world.
The Naval Reactors program, which must design a new reactor
core for the new Ohio class submarine and refuel its test
reactor, would be cut by $61 million.
Finally, the Corps would be cut by $270 million and the
Bureau of Reclamation by $56 million. As we struggle to
maintain and build our infrastructure in this country these
cuts would have significant implications to on-going
projects.
Internationally, the Thune amendment will require a cut of
$388 million for global health programs to combat HIV/AIDS,
malaria, Swine Flu, and many other deadly diseases that claim
millions of lives annually.
The amendment will require an additional cut of $87 million
beyond the $165 million supplemental funding not counted as
part of the CR for aid for refugees. This translates into
millions of lives lost.
The amendment will require a cut of $42 million for
international disaster relief. This cut along with the
reduction of $460 million that was included in the FY 10
Supplemental that is not counted in the CR would severely
limit our ability to aid victims of earthquakes, floods,
hurricanes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters.
$16.5 million reduction to U.S. Capitol Police would result
in the loss of approximately 90 officers. Capitol Police are
already dealing with a $10 million shortfall going into FY11.
This would further decrease their mission of protecting the
Capitol Complex.
The GAO would be reduced by $28 million, which would be
devastating to GAO's operations, staff, and ability to
provide timely service to the Congress. To absorb a reduction
of this magnitude in a labor intensive budget would require a
reduction of almost 200 employees.
A cut of $18 million to the Mine Safety and Health
Administration. The tragic loss of 29 lives at the Upper Big
Branch mine and other mine accidents this year were tragic
reminders of what can happen when workplaces are not safe.
This funding level will prevent MSHA from adequately
enforcing the law which protects mineworkers.
This amendment would reduce funding for lifesaving
medications by $43 million, including the $25 million
recently allocated to 11 States to get 2,100 people off the
waiting lists in Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, South
Dakota and Utah. The drugs cost an average of $12,000 a year
a person, meaning that this cut would eliminate access to
care for over 3,500 people.
This amendment would reduce funding for health professions
training by $35.5 million.
A reduction of five percent below the FY 2010 funding level
would cut approximately $163 million that is necessary for
States to administer unemployment benefits. Under

[[Page S7713]]

current economic conditions, an estimated 14 million
unemployed individuals will be served in FY 2011, an increase
of approximately 60 percent, or 5.2 million individuals,
since 2008. The proposed cut in funding would result in long
wait times for claimants, increased erroneous payments, and
continued neglect of aging infrastructure.
A reduction of 5 percent below the FY 2010 funding level
for NIH would result in a cut of $1.6 billion. This reduction
is roughly equivalent to the total cost of all FY 2010 NIH
funded research on asthma, Parkinson's disease, lung cancer,
ovarian cancer, childhood leukemia, infant mortality,
lymphoma, multiple sclerosis and sickle cell disease
combined.
A cut of $30 million for purchasing the medications and
supplies needed in case of a bioterrorism attack or a
pandemic illness.
This cut would prevent the implementation of all planned
new law enforcement initiatives at DOJ, including $366
million in new national security spending intended to improve
the FBI's cyber security, WMD and counterterrorism
capabilities and to assist in the litigation of intelligence
and terrorism cases; $153 million in new funding intended to
strengthen DEA and ATF investigative activity focused on the
activities of Mexican drug cartels; $97 million intended to
increase the number of FBI agents and US Attorneys working
corporate, mortgage and government fraud cases.
For the U.S. Marshals Service, $1.3 million would be cut
from its construction resources bringing to a complete halt
the Marshals' courthouse security improvement program, which
funds the installation of security equipment in Federal
courthouses and the construction of secure space for holding
and processing Federal prisoners in courthouse facilities.
Currently, less than a third of Federal courthouses meet
established security standards; this percentage will further
decrease if the Marshals do not continue to make necessary
upgrades and improvements.
Without these funds, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) would have
to reduce staff by over 2,000, leaving prison staffing at
less than 89 percent of the level identified by BOP as
necessary to ensure prison security.
Grants to state and local law enforcement and community
safety groups would be decimated by nearly $200 million. We
would be taking resources from law enforcement to fight
violent crime, drug trafficking, terrorism and child
predators. This cut would slash funding for the State
Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). We need to make
sure police have every tool available to fight violent crime
and drug trafficking, and keep our families and communities
safe.
Further, NIST is responsible for creating standards that
keep consumers safe and test new technology to advance
America innovation. Cutting NIST's research funding by 5
percent would end the multi-year effort to double funding for
investments in scientific research through the agency.
Hardest hit would be American manufacturers who would lose
over $10 million in competitive grants that are designed to
send new technology out to the workplace, improving
efficiency and making American business more globally
competitive.
This amendment would also put communities at risk for
pipeline explosions. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Administration (PHMSA) ensures the safety of the interstate
pipeline system and monitors State oversight of intrastate
pipelines. In the wake of the San Bruno, California, pipeline
explosion that killed 8 people and destroyed more than 50
homes, it is not the time to be cutting funding for pipeline
safety. Rather, Congress needs to ensure PHMSA is adequately
staffed to ensure companies are maintaining their pipelines
to prevent senseless tragedies such as San Bruno from
reoccurring. This reduction would do the opposite, curtailing
safety oversight of the nation's 2.5 million miles of
pipeline.
An across the board cut would impact NOAA and the National
Weather Service which is standing watch over our communities
to keep us safe. NOAA has made improvements to better warn
American's about dangerous tornadoes, hurricanes, and other
storms, but a spending cut would send NOAA's forecasting
capabilities backwards and eliminate 40 forecasting jobs.
Further, a 5 percent cut would harm NOAA weather satellite
program resulting in gaps in weather data, forcing the United
States to rely on foreign countries to supply weather data,
or worse, leaving Americas completely blind to severe weather
events.

Mr. INOUYE. In closing, I would like to note that the CR that is
being considered by the Senate this afternoon is at a rate that is $18
billion below the Sessions amendment. The amendment being proposed by
the Senator from South Dakota proposes a rate that is an additional $23
billion below the Sessions amendment.
To ask our agencies to continue to operate for the next 2 months at a
rate that is $41 billion below the Sessions amendment will be
devastating and is simply unacceptable. Under this scenario, every
single program gets cut.
I believe what I have provided my colleagues is a thorough analysis
of exactly what you are cutting. Make no mistake, a vote for this
amendment is a vote for cutting these programs. It is that simple. I,
for one, do not believe this is the way Congress should be doing
business, and I will oppose this amendment. I encourage my colleagues
to do the same.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is my understanding the time on our
side is controlled by the chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is right.
Mr. DURBIN. Can I ask, Mr. President, how much time is remaining?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. For the majority, there is 40 minutes
remaining for general debate.
Mr. DURBIN. If I could have the chairman's consent to speak for 5
minutes?
Mr. INOUYE. Absolutely.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank the chairman for that time.
One of the first amendments we will consider is a 5-percent across-
the-board cut. There is some surface appeal to this because it is
almost like taking money and not leaving any fingerprints because you
do not have to pick the different agencies that are going to be reduced
in spending. You just say generically cut 5 percent and call us back
when it is all over. It sounds like an easy assignment, but it
overlooks the obvious.
Senator Inouye, as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, is
already preparing for next year's spending by reducing the spending
level suggested by the President of the United States--if I am not
mistaken, some $16 billion below President Obama's budget request.
So the Senator, as chairman of this important committee, is acting in
good faith to bring down spending. It is my understanding this
continuing resolution, at least for the next few months, cuts even more
deeply in terms of the money that will be allowed.
So if there is some argument being made on the Senate floor that we
are not sensitive to the deficit needs of America and we have not
already accepted responsibility to cut spending, they are ignoring
Senator Inouye's leadership on the Senate Appropriations Committee and
the fact that this bipartisan compromise cuts even more deeply.
Now comes the Senator from South Dakota who says: Well, let's cut
some more. Let's cut 5 percent across the board. Then you take a look
at the various programs, and you say to the Senator from South Dakota:
Well, let's get down to specifics. Do you think we should cut 5 percent
of the spending at the National Institutes of Health where they are
engaged in medical research to find cures for the diseases which are
afflicting and threatening people across America? Well, I bet he would
say: No, we don't want to cut there. Yet when you do an across-the-
board cut and you are not specific, unfortunately, you run the risk of
cutting a critical program like that.
Would you go to northern California and say to the people living
there: Now is the time to cut the inspections of natural gas pipelines
in the United States of America, after the terrible tragedy which
occurred there just a few weeks ago, claiming innocent lives? No. Would
you argue that now is the time to take away inspections for oil rigs
across America? I think we are trying to move to the point where we
resume drilling but with some confidence that we have inspected all
these rigs and they are safe and we can move forward. Senator Thune is
saying, Well, let's cut across the board. That is going to take money
away from that timely inspection which we want to get completed so we
can put people back to work in that region of the country and around
the United States.

How about the Centers for Disease Control? Do we take money out of
the Centers for Disease Control at this moment in history? I think not.
They are doing important work to try to protect us against the next
influenza epidemic and whatever else might challenge us. Do we want to
take money away from food safety and inspection? How many of us read
newspaper stories on a daily basis about innocent people who ate
spinach or peppers or peanut butter and ended up with salmonella or E.
coli, in the hospital, and their health compromised for months, if not
years?

[[Page S7714]]

So do we want to reduce the inspections on food? How about the
inspections on imported food? Does the Senator from South Dakota
believe we should cut back on inspecting the food coming into our
markets, being served on the tables of families across America? I think
not.
Does he want to cut back on the COPS Program at a time when States
and local cities are running out of money and laying off policemen? Do
we want to cut back on the Federal funds we are sending so that there
are cops on the beat to keep our neighborhoods safe?
Does he want to cut back on education? Does he believe that now is
the time, when we are seeing layoffs of teachers, even though we have
made some efforts here to try to reduce that? Does he want to cut more
money from education when school districts across America are
suffering? That is what he is proposing.
If he were standing here with the only proposals or cuts that the
Congress is considering, we might say, Well, we have to face up to it,
but he comes late to the party. The chairman of this committee has
already taken this through the exercise of bringing down the spending
for next year that starts on October 1, and this continuing resolution
cuts even more deeply.
I am going to urge my colleagues to vote against this 5-percent
across-the-board cut. The Senator from South Dakota has exempted a few
agencies, but there are a lot that he hasn't. As a consequence, we are
in a position where many of these agencies and the critical programs
that are important for the health and safety of Americans are literally
at risk because of this amendment.
Let's do this in a sensible, honest way. Let's not send a general
letter. Let's use the appropriations process to bring down spending.
The Congress cannot and should not abdicate its responsibility to
review individual programs and make individual spending recommendations
based on that review. The desire to hold spending in check should be
based on congressional oversight of specific programs. We shouldn't
take a meat ax, across-the-board, call-me-when-you-are-done approach.
We should not yield our power to the President. We have our own special
responsibility here on Capitol Hill.
Senator Coburn has been a strong proponent of oversight of spending.
I support that oversight. He has come to this floor and advocated for
the committees to look closely at spending and authorizations for
scores of Federal programs. I think they should; I agree with him. This
is exactly what the Appropriations Committee did last year in crafting
bipartisan bills that garnered vast majorities of congressional
support. The continuing resolution before us continues those levels for
a short time at last year's spending levels while we work at crafting a
responsible spending bill for the remainder of this fiscal year. I am
committed as a member of that committee, working with Chairman Inouye,
to meeting that challenge to reduce our deficit, but I am just as
committed to doing it in an appropriate, responsible, and effective
way. This amendment that is being offered for a 5-percent, across-the-
board cut is not such an amendment.
I urge my colleagues to oppose that amendment. I urge them to support
the passage of this continuing resolution so that the important
business of our Federal Government and keeping American families safe
and healthy can continue and not be interrupted.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the chairman of the Appropriations
Committee has described in detail the severe consequences for domestic
programs and personnel of the amendment offered by Senator Thune. I
want to mention three examples of what the Thune amendment would do to
critical international programs that mean the difference between life
and death for the world's poorest people.

It would cut $388 million for global health programs to combat HIV/
AIDS, malaria, Swine Flu, and many other deadly diseases that claim
millions of lives annually.
It would cut $87 million for aid for refugees, the world's most
vulnerable people.
Funding for refugees will already be well below the amount provided
in fiscal year 2010 because an additional $165 million was included in
the fiscal year 2010 Supplemental that is not counted in the CR, so the
actual cut for refugee aid including this amendment would be $252
million below the fiscal year 2010 total level. This translates into
millions of lives lost.
It would cut $42 million for international disaster relief. Funding
for this account will already be reduced by $460 million that was
included in the fiscal year 2010 supplemental that is not counted in
the CR.
The total amount under this amendment for disaster relief would
therefore be $502 million below the fiscal year 2010 total level. This
would severely limit our ability to aid victims of earthquakes, floods,
hurricanes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters.
These are not theoretical examples. They are real. This amendment is
not just about dollars and cents. It is about human lives. It is a
moral issue. A 5-percent cut may not sound like a lot. The sponsor of
the amendment says it is only 5 percent. What he does not say is that
the consequences of this amendment would be devastating for millions of
people around the world.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask that the time be divided equally
between both sides.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that upon
disposition of H.R. 3081, as amended, the Senate then proceed to the
consideration of H. Con. Res. 321 and the Senate then proceed to vote
on adoption of the concurrent resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. All time has been yielded back, Senator Inouye and Senator
Cochran so advise me.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has been yielded back.
The question is on agreeing to the Thune amendment.
Mr. REID. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a
sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 48, nays 51, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 245 Leg.]

YEAS--48

Alexander
Barrasso
Bayh
Bennet
Bennett
Bond
Brown (MA)
Brownback
Bunning
Burr
Chambliss
Coburn
Cochran
Collins
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
DeMint
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
Johanns
Klobuchar
Kyl
LeMieux
Lincoln
Lugar
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Risch
Roberts
Sessions
Shelby
Snowe
Thune
Udall (CO)
Vitter
Voinovich
Webb
Wicker

NAYS--51

Akaka
Baucus
Begich
Bingaman
Boxer
Brown (OH)
Burris
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Conrad
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Goodwin
Hagan
Harkin
Inouye
Johnson
Kaufman
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (NE)
Nelson (FL)
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schumer
Shaheen
Specter
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (NM)
Warner
Whitehouse
Wyden

NOT VOTING--1

Murkowski

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes
for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is withdrawn.

[[Page S7715]]

Amendment No. 4677

The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be 2 minutes of debate equally
divided on the DeMint amendment.
The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, my amendment only makes one change to the
underlying continuing resolution. It changes the date from January 3 to
February 4. There is no reason we should fund the government only to
the lameduck. We need to wait until we have a new Congress and the dust
settles after the election. We don't need to be passing another
continuing resolution or an omnibus spending bill with the pressure of
a government shutdown before Christmas. So the amendment is just a
couple of lines that change the date. Everything else in the continuing
resolution is the same. Let's push the operation of the government all
the way through January to a new Congress.
I reserve the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, the Appropriations Committee worked in a
bipartisan fashion on this bill. It was crafted with a very narrow
focus and the expectation that it will last only 2 months. As we all
know, the short-term CR is not efficient, but it is manageable. For the
many reasons I enumerated earlier, we know that if we accept this
amendment, the government will not be able to function as it should. I
urge that we vote no.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to amendment No.
4677.
Mr. DeMINT. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski).
The result was announced--yeas 39, nays 60, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 246 Leg.]

YEAS--39

Alexander
Barrasso
Bayh
Bennet
Brown (MA)
Brownback
Bunning
Burr
Chambliss
Coburn
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
DeMint
Ensign
Enzi
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
Johanns
Kyl
LeMieux
Lugar
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Risch
Roberts
Sessions
Shelby
Snowe
Thune
Udall (CO)
Vitter
Wicker

NAYS--60

Akaka
Baucus
Begich
Bennett
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Brown (OH)
Burris
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cochran
Collins
Conrad
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Feingold
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Goodwin
Hagan
Harkin
Inouye
Johnson
Kaufman
Kerry
Klobuchar
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (NE)
Nelson (FL)
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schumer
Shaheen
Specter
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (NM)
Voinovich
Warner
Webb
Whitehouse
Wyden

NOT VOTING--1

Murkowski

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes
for the adoption of the amendment, the amendment is withdrawn.
The substitute amendment (No. 4674) is agreed to.
The question is on the engrossment of the amendments and third
reading of the bill.
The amendments were ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a
third time.
The bill was read a third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the
question is, Shall the bill pass?
Mr. KYL. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the rol1.
Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 69, nays 30, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 247 Leg.]

YEAS--69

Akaka
Alexander
Baucus
Bayh
Begich
Bennet
Bennett
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Brown (OH)
Burris
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cochran
Collins
Conrad
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Feinstein
Franken
Gillibrand
Goodwin
Grassley
Gregg
Hagan
Harkin
Inouye
Johanns
Johnson
Kaufman
Kerry
Klobuchar
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lugar
McCaskill
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (NE)
Nelson (FL)
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sanders
Schumer
Shaheen
Specter
Stabenow
Tester
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Voinovich
Warner
Webb
Whitehouse
Wyden

NAYS--30

Barrasso
Brown (MA)
Brownback
Bunning
Burr
Chambliss
Coburn
Corker
Cornyn
Crapo
DeMint
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Graham
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
LeMieux
McCain
McConnell
Risch
Roberts
Sessions
Shelby
Snowe
Thune
Vitter
Wicker

NOT VOTING--1

Murkowski

The bill (H.R. 3081), as amended, was passed.
The amendment (No. 4682) was agreed to, as follows:

Amend the title so as to read: ``Making continuing
appropriations for fiscal year 2011, and for other
purposes''.

____________________