Kit Bond

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I should clarify that I was not asking unanimous consent that all amendments be in by 3 p.m. I am hoping the leadership will be able to clear an agreement establishing a time. This was an expression of hope. I am sure my distinguished colleague from Maryland has the same hope burning in her heart that I do in mine, but it is not ripe to propound as a unanimous consent at this time. I was not asking unanimous consent on the 3 p.m. for filing all amendments. We hope we can get a reasonable time. The distinguished ranking member of the full committee wishes to speak. I need to make just a few quick points about the Wellstone amendment. We have, as everyone knows, been working for some time to determine how much VA needs in its budget. We knew that the budget submitted to us was entirely inadequate, and we know that the VA's own Under Secretary issued a memorandum last February indicating his concerns about it. There were no details in the President's budget. So in our committee, where we have responsibility for preparing a budget, we take requests, and these requests we judge in good faith. We have the responsibility of allocating the scarce dollars. We asked the VA and its networks to put together plans as to how they would operate. That is where we learned about the closures, cutbacks in care, reduction of 13,000 employees. We saw that was a disaster. We asked VA about the proposed management efficiencies that networks said could be implemented, and should be implemented, to improve the efficiency of VA care, and they said about half of them could be. So they are finding money by making savings within their budget. The things that they are doing are commonsense, good practices, such as bulk purchasing, improving prescription patterns, centralizing certain functions, closing unused buildings, and so forth. We are going to have to do more of that. To be clear, we expect continuing reforms. We want to see good health care for veterans. In many instances in the past, that has not been accomplished purely by throwing in more money. We need to make sure the money is effectively spent. We have provided an additional $600 million to make sure they have the funds adequate to ensure the health care dollars do deliver to the needs of veterans. The amount we have agreed to, this addition of $1.7 billion, is, I understand, the highest increase ever for VA medical care. The amount we have agreed to in the budget of $19 billion will allow VA to provide more care and better care to our veterans. Also, I should note that the Veterans Affairs budget has not been flatlined. We have been adding about $100 or $200 million a year, and we think that this increase, a very significant one, is vitally important. The proposal the Senator from Minnesota made would not take money from the surplus. It would take money from Social Security. We are working within very tight budget constraints to provide an additional $600 million. Any dollars above that will come straight out of Social Security. The $14 billion is onbudget, non-Social Security funds and has been used up in emergency spending for agriculture, the census, and other emergencies. There is no free money floating out there. That is one of the constraints under which we must operate on the Appropriations Committee. That is why the leadership of the Senator from West Virginia, the Senator from Alaska, and the Budget Committee has been so important to make that we could provide additional funds. I know the distinguished Senator from West Virginia has some comments.

Mr. BOND. I object, Mr. President. We don't have the time.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, we are busily working to get a unanimous consent order as to the timing for the vote on this issue to accommodate a number of our colleagues. We are working busily right now. The reason I asked that I be able to regain the floor after the Senator from New Hampshire spoke was to be able to propound that unanimous consent request. I am still hoping that momentarily we will have the unanimous consent request.

Mr. BOND. It is the wish of the bipartisan leadership we not have any votes prior to 2 o'clock. I assure all Senators if we conclude debate on this amendment, it might be possible for the amendment to be set aside and others to be considered. There will be no votes before 2 o'clock.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, just for the information of all Senators, we have been working on a time for the vote on this amendment. There seems to be a consensus, although I am not in a position to ask unanimous consent, that most of the colleagues will be back and prepared to vote at 2 p.m. For the information of all Senators, I will propose to raise a Budget Act point of order at 2 p.m. I believe the Senator may wish to make a motion to waive that Budget Act point of order. I yield the floor.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, if we are able to have a unanimous consent agreement to establish it at 2 o'clock, I will ask for 4 minutes equally divided prior to that time to discuss the Wellstone amendment. I did not understand we were ready to have that unanimous consent agreement. Without the unanimous consent agreement, we cannot assure the Senator he will have that time because raising the Budget Act point of order triggers the activities resulting in potentially an immediate vote. Apparently, we are not ready to propound a unanimous consent request, so I urge the Senator sometime before 2 o'clock to make his comments in support of waiving the Budget Act.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, it is my hope that we will be able to have a vote on the Smith amendment immediately following the Wellstone amendment. There are a number of people who want to speak. The Senator from Ohio wants to speak. I know the Senator from Maryland is coming back to speak. But that means we only have about 35 minutes to get discussion on all of these. Since there is no time agreement, we depend upon the good graces of our colleagues to wrap all of the discussions up prior to 2 o'clock. I will then move to table the Smith amendment.

Mr. BOND. I move to table the Smith amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I see the Senator from Ohio who has been waiting.

Mr. BOND. I withdraw that motion. I see the Senator from Ohio is on the floor. I will address the amendments afterwards.

Mr. BOND. I move to table the amendment, and ask for the yeas and nays and ask that the vote be withheld.

Mr. BOND. I ask unanimous consent that the vote be withheld to follow the vote on or in relation to the Wellstone amendment.

Mr. BOND. I thank the Senator from Ohio for cogent and knowledgeable comments. We appreciate his assistance. I thank the Senator for his statements. Let me make a couple of brief points about the two amendments before the Senate. This year, 51 Senators wrote me in support of a $1.7 billion increase in the veterans' medical care budget. The budget resolution which passed this body assumed a $1.7 billion increase for VA medical care. We have worked hard to meet the needs that we believe are responsibly identified for veterans' medical care. We would love to have more money but we are at the end of our available stream of funds. We have increased funding for homeless assistance for the veterans by $40 million. That is why I cannot support either of these amendments. With respect to Senator Smith's amendment, I have had significant concerns about the operations of AmeriCorps. I have worked closely with the inspector general to clear up some of the agency's management problems. There was a problem with $31 million that was lost. We are very much concerned about it. The battle over whether we ought to have an AmeriCorps program or not is over. It has been decided. It is authorized. It is funded. It is in place in communities in my State and across the Nation. There are people who are providing valuable services. There is strong support. We have attempted to continue AmeriCorps at the existing level. We did rescind $80 million because the inspector general identified that money as not needed. However, we have to develop a bill that will be signed by the President. The President has already threatened to veto any bill that cuts AmeriCorps. It is that simple. If you want the additional funding we provided for veterans, the additional $1.7 billion above the President's request, then we have to have the bill signed. It is a rather simple matter. If this bill is vetoed over AmeriCorps, then we can't get the money for veterans. To ensure that the operations of AmeriCorps are properly addressed, we boosted the inspector general's budget from $3 million to $5 million to oversee the work of AmeriCorps. The concept has already been approved. It is in place. It is ongoing. For the information of all Senators, we expect to have a vote at 2 o'clock on a motion to waive the budget point of order, followed by a tabling motion on the Smith amendment. We are hoping everybody who has first-degree amendments will get them in by 4 o'clock. We have not propounded a unanimous consent request. People are busily working on amendments. I do not want to discourage Members from doing that. We want to see an end to the process. I have had a number of colloquies provided to me. I appreciate that people get them in. Colloquies sometimes explain the difficult and complex parts of a bill. If a Member has a colloquy which they want included, I ask Members to get those colloquies in by 5 o'clock this afternoon. We do have to review them. Sometimes we need clearance from the authorizing committee. If we are hit with a rush of colloquies at the last moment, we may simply not be able to deal with them and get them read and approved. In order to get colloquies in, I hope Members will bring them to the ranking member or me prior to 5 o'clock to review them.

Mr. BOND. I have an amendment that will strike several sections of the bill. I ask unanimous consent the pending amendments be set aside temporarily.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, as you can see, it is a simple amendment. It strikes sections 427 and 428. They were put in the bill to amend the Fair Housing Act to provide a 72-hour cooling off period for newspapers that had been accused of having published an item that was alleged to have been discriminatory. The two major publishers in my State and publishers around the country presented to us what they thought was a very unfair situation. We thought we could accommodate them with this provision in the bill. However, Senators Kennedy and Harkin have raised substantive concerns and pointed out that this amendment would violate rule XVI. I therefore offer this amendment to strike these provisions so we do not have to have a battle over rule XVI.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, since we are nearing 2 o'clock, I ask unanimous consent that at 1:55 the Senator from Minnesota be recognized to make 2 minutes of closing statements on his amendment, that I be recognized to make opposing comments and raise the point of order, and that he may ask that it be waived.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Minnesota for his kind words and note with gratitude that he did point out we disagree. This is a great relief to many of my constituents. I thank him for that acknowledgement. But seriously, this very important amendment, the Wellstone amendment, would eat into the Social Security reserve. It ignores the fact that a majority of Members of this body wrote me in support of a $1.7 billion increase. I therefore state that the pending amendment, No. 1747, offered by the Senator from Minnesota, increases spending in excess of the allocation to the Appropriations Committee; therefore, I raise a point of order against the amendment pursuant to section 302(f) of the Budget Act.

Mr. BOND. Let's be honest. There was a budget surplus. We spent it. It is gone. It is done. We had the increased spending for defense because we made commitments in many areas around the world and we have to defend and support our fighting men and women when we ask them to put their lives on the line for us. We have to remedy the shortfall that every one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the President's budget has caused. We are spending it on agriculture. We approved a $7-plus billion ag relief bill that came out of this body. It is now in conference. We have to put money in for the census. We have spent the money. It is gone. So what this amendment seeks to do is to take an additional $1.3 billion out of Social Security. The Senator says we have to provide priorities for veterans. We just added $1.7 billion over the President's request for veterans' medical care--the largest increase in veterans' medical care in history--to allow expanded care to thousands of veterans, initiating new programs for veterans, helping homeless veterans, providing for inflationary increases, enabling the VA to treat the veterans who have hepatitis C with a new therapy. The Veterans' Administration is making cuts, increasing efficiencies, good business practices that will enable them to serve more. The money we have already provided should assure good quality care for the next year in the health care facilities for our veterans. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter dated April 30, signed by 51 of our colleagues, to Chairman Stevens and Senator Byrd asking for the $1.7 billion to be provided by the Appropriations Committee for veterans' health. There being no objection the material was ordered to be printed in

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have added as cosponsors to amendment No. 1744: Senators Roberts, Ashcroft, Snowe, Collins, Coverdell, and Harkin.

Mr. BOND. I yield the floor. Mr. SARBANES addressed the Chair.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I add another cosponsor to amendment No. 1744. I ask that Senator Abraham be added.