Roy Blunt

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. While the gentleman has the floor, could you give us an idea of what else to expect next week?

Mr. BLUNT. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, we will be talking about this budget for a long time. Everybody has their own view of this, but you can't have your own view of the facts. One of my good friends got up a minute ago and talked about the size of the deficit. This budget is going to add $850 billion this year to the deficit. I think that's almost $1 trillion, though I am sure people who are listening to this here in the Chamber and anywhere else are confused now by all these numbers they are hearing. This budget, without a single other vote, adds to the national debt. It raises the debt ceiling. In spite of the many Members in this Chamber who ran for office saying they would never try to hide this vote on the debt, that's exactly what this vote does today. Entitlement reform, one of my other friends said, we hadn't passed a budget. Well, my friend, you can't have entitlement reform unless you pass a budget. You can't have reconciliation. We cut the growth of the entitlement spending $40 billion in the last Congress. By definition, to do that, we had to have a budget. So somebody who suggested we hadn't had a budget also was the person who had some explanation as to why this budget doesn't do entitlement reform. In fact, then we even make entitlement reform somehow the interest on the national debt. The programs that are growing out of control are the programs that this budget refuses to address. Then the very interesting topic of tax cuts, tax policies in 2001 and 2003 that have produced record levels of income to the Federal Government; 2005, 14.5 percent more income than 2004; 2006, 11.8 percent, more income than 2005. These tax cuts grew the economy. That grew Federal income. If you raise the wrong taxes, you will reduce Federal income. This whole budget debate, our friends in the majority have said, there is no tax increase in this budget. But suddenly, in the budget report, we are told that, well, we have accepted the Senate levels of tax increases, so we are only raising tax revenue by $217 billion for sure instead of $400 billion. This is a huge tax increase. It doesn't deal with entitlements. It raises, without a vote, the national debt ceiling. I urge a ``no'' vote on this budget. Let's get a blueprint that really works for the future.

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize an institution celebrating its centennial milestone this month. The Central Assembly of God Church in Springfield, MO, has been at the center of the Pentecostal movement in Springfield since the turn of the 20th century. Early in 1907, a woman, who had attended a California revival, came to Springfield and spent a week with Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Corum. She related the stories from the revival in Los Angeles and told them God was sending a refreshing message. Mrs. Corum began reading material from the revival. On June 1, 1907, Mrs. Corum received a spiritual awakening. Prayer meetings resulted from this spiritual outpouring. Hearing about a revival, a group of friends from Joplin came to Springfield to join the prayer meetings. From 1907 to 1914, this band of Spirit-filled believers met in various places, including a large tent. The first pastor, Reverend Sig Eaton, was elected on December 7, 1914. During the spring of 1918 the Assemblies of God International headquarters moved from St. Louis, MO, to Springfield, increasing the number in the local church. Because of the larger congregation, the group erected a 40 x 60 foot building, which was completed and occupied on July 1, 1920. In December 1929, that building burned to the ground. The new church was erected in 1930. The church complex now covers 200,000 square feet, offering an assortment of services and activities for every age group. The latest renovation, completed in 2004, includes four levels of children's ministries classrooms; construction began on a new 22,000 square foot Youth and Community Center that includes a 350-seat youth chapel, wood floor gymnasium, cafeteria, kitchen, computer lab, game area, classrooms and an office wing. The retrofitted old sanctuary has become a spacious 16,000 square foot multipurpose hall that houses a large area for KidZone/Children's Church, as well as a facility with seating for some 700 people at round tables for other churchwide events. A large industrial kitchen and children's game area were also included in this space. The congregation of Central Assembly has a rich tradition of not just meeting the spiritual needs of the community; but the physical needs as well. Currently, through initiatives such as a food pantry, strategic relationships with Pipkin Middle School, Boyd and Weaver Elementary Schools, and other community efforts, Central Assembly has expanded its influence beyond the walls of the church. Central Assembly sent out its first foreign missionary, Forest Coover, on September 1, 1926 to Tibet. That international ministry continues today. The church has an impact that is global in its work and mission. Due to its strategic location in close proximity to the Assemblies of God headquarters and universities, Central has played an important role in the development of young leaders who now lead ministry and relief efforts around the world. The group of congregants, today more than 2,000 strong, has come a long way from the early and humble beginnings of those who met in prayer meetings with the Corums. The Central family is thankful to the Lord for the evidence of His blessing through the years, keenly aware that the Church is made up not of bricks and stained glass but of born- again believers, with a desire to connect with God, with each other, and with their purpose in life. I congratulate the Central Assemblies of God Church on their special anniversary and pray the congregation's future is filled with success in the spiritual missions that are the foundation of the church.

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. BLUNT. I would say to the gentleman, there may be a technicality that neither of us understand; I am sure I don't. But I thought there was a technical problem with the budget passed that made it a different situation than the budgets we had passed in the past, and that the clearest way to take care of that procedural mistake was actually to deal with the bill on the floor.

Mr. BLUNT. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for that. I am wondering based on the discussion we had and the meeting we had yesterday, does the gentleman have any sense when we may expect to see some action on the war supplemental?

Mr. BLUNT. Well, I thank my friend for the spirit of your response. If there is any way we can help you in getting that information to Members more quickly, please call on us to do that.

Mr. BLUNT. I would.

Mr. BLUNT. And all of that would happen on Monday?

Mr. BLUNT. I would also ask the gentleman, and then we go to conference on the budget after taking what will be a separate vote on the budget?

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the majority leader, for the purpose of inquiring about next week's schedule.

Mr. BLUNT. I hope we can do that. I believe the quicker we can get House action, the better off we will be. On the budget resolution, I would ask my friend, I understand there is a technical reason that budget resolution may have to come before the House again, and maybe the Rules Committee is even meeting on that right now. Would you explain that to me?

Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for that. My only other topic, Members, of course get very sentimental about their mothers near Mother's Day, and their wives near Mother's Day. Next Friday, I am hoping we will have an effort to ensure that Members are home for that weekend, and they are, too. We intend to vote Friday. Does the gentleman have a sense yet what the actual Friday schedule might look like in terms of a time away from here on Friday?

Mr. BLUNT. That would be good for our Members to get that done. One other thing that I would like to bring up, and I know how difficult it is to schedule the floor. Believe me, I know the concerns and criticisms that come from that. When we were visiting a week ago, I expressed a specific request that as soon as we had an idea when the votes were going to be on Tuesday, we would have more general knowledge of that. At that time, my good friend thought we would vote early afternoon on Tuesday. As it turned out, we didn't actually start the session until noon on Tuesday.

Mr. BLUNT. That information to our Members a little earlier would have prevented travel on Monday for people that could have easily gotten here by the time of the Tuesday vote. It is still early in this Congress. I am really not saying that in a way that is critical at all, but at the time, we did ask for whatever knowledge the majority had as soon as possible so we wouldn't run into exactly the situation we did, people getting here thinking there could be votes at 12, only to find out we didn't start any of the work of the House until 12. Whatever it takes to work more closely on that, I am more than happy to try to do so we can get information out. But we can't get it out unless we have it. I was disappointed we didn't get a little more notice on the time we were going to start work on Tuesday, which would have made it clear we would not be having votes at the time we started.

Mr. BLUNT. Right. And I think to meet the objective, which I think is an objective we should do our best to meet, of moving that bill before the Memorial Day break and sending it to the President's desk, we almost have to have a bill through the House by the time the gentleman has mentioned.

Mr. BLUNT. Is it the gentleman's view that bill will go through a committee process or will it be coming directly to the floor?

Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for clarifying that for me. On one other topic that may be coming up soon, the whole question of lobbying reform, I have heard that may also be coming up in the near future. Do you have a sense when a lobbying reform bill might be scheduled for the floor?

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for yielding. We all know that in a few minutes the President's veto will be sustained. We didn't all figure that out this morning. We didn't all figure that out last week. We didn't even all figure that out last month. We've known that since the very start of this debate, 90 days of debate at a time when there are real consequences for our troops. There are consequences, we are told this week, in the preparation for troops going to Iraq and action. There are consequences of maintenance on bases in this country. There are consequences in the way we are dealing with our equipment and our repairs, and we have taken 90 days to get to this point so we can start all over again. I hope when we start all over again this afternoon that we will start all over again with a commitment to get this job done as soon as possible, rather than to take as long as possible. It does matter. The message we send to the world matters. The message we send to our troops matters. This bill needs to be as clean as possible. It needs to be straightforward. There are things in this bill that in another bill I could support. There are things in this bill I couldn't support in any bill, but there are things here that should be done that have nothing to do with this bill. I don't know why they were put on. Maybe they were put on to try to see if the majority could get the last votes necessary to pass a bill that has restrictions on the military that this Congress should never have advanced to the President's desk. The President has vetoed. We will uphold that veto. Let's work together now to get the job done to support the troops in Afghanistan, in Iraq and everywhere else around the world who are feeling the consequences of this 90 days we have already taken. I will work with you. I hope you will work with us. We need to get this job started.

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. I appreciate that and I appreciate your commitment to consultation. Our staffs can look at which of these two Science Committee bills that we are talking about. And, again, my concern would be that we give Members maximum opportunity to file a bill and not set a deadline on a travel day for a bill that is not going to be on the floor for several days anyway. And I think we have had a discussion that I am comfortable with, and I hope our staff continues to talk about that process meeting everybody's needs, the Rules Committee, the Members that want to file amendments, and understanding that a deadline on a day when Members are trying to get back to their district is really almost a day that the Members themselves may not be able to be engaged in that process. If it is necessary, it is necessary. But when it is not, I would hope we can avoid it. And I believe the gentleman suggested we will continue to view that in that way.

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my good friend from Maryland, the majority leader, for the purpose of inquiring about next week's schedule.

Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for that information. And on the discussion of Tuesday, I want to say, first of all, I appreciate the early information you were able to give us on Monday and Tuesday, and wonder, as Members are planning on traveling either Monday or Tuesday, if you have any further sense of when votes may occur on Tuesday.

Mr. BLUNT. I appreciate that, and I think that is helpful to Members to know where the leader is headed on that topic. Two bills you mentioned for next week. I know the local law enforcement, the hate crimes, some of our Members are beginning to be, I think, concerned about this bill, refer to it as a thought crimes bill. But there was a long markup in committee, lots of amendments, and I am thinking on that bill we're hopeful that we can have the same kind of opportunity for a wide-ranging discussion on the floor that the committee had; and on both that and the Head Start bill, we are hoping for a rule that allows that. I wonder if the gentleman has any sense of what the rule on those two bills will look like.