Conrad Burns

Mr. BURNS

Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I send to the desk a modification to amendment No. 1045 and ask unanimous consent that the amendment be so modified.

Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, the following amendments have been cleared by both sides, and I ask unanimous consent that they be adopted: amendment No. 1022, offered by the leadership on both sides of the aisle; amendment No. 1040, as modified, offered by Senator Bond; amendment No. 1048, offered by Senator Smith; amendment No. 1044, as modified, offered by Senator Byrd; amendment No. 1036, offered by Senator Reed; amendment No. 1032, offered by Senator Durbin; amendment No. 1037, offered by Senator Reed; and amendment No. 1045, as modified, offered by Senator Conrad. I ask for their adoption.

Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BURNS. I will.

Mr. BURNS. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I remind Senators that we are going to start calling up these amendments right after lunch. I want to warn Senators to come down and defend their amendments. If not, we are going to start taking action on them first thing after lunch. We have the order already agreed to, and we want to complete this bill by tomorrow morning, if possible. There is more impending business before the Senate. It is important that the appropriations process move forward. We will be calling up those amendments this afternoon, and those Senators defending and offering those amendments should be on the floor to defend them.

Mr. BURNS

Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, we are setting the priority of amendments now and consulting. We will have that decision made in just a bit. We want to work on that. We have a lot of work to do this afternoon and on into the evening. There have been some changes as far as amendments that have been offered. In the meantime, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Georgia, Mr. Isakson, be allowed to speak as in morning business for 10 minutes, followed by Senator Murray--how much time will the Senator need?

Mr. BURNS. Fifteen minutes, and after that, Senator Kerry will be recognized, and Senator Akaka needs about 10 minutes.

Mr. BURNS. Right after the chairman is done with his duties.

Mr. BURNS. Yes.

Mr. BURNS. First let me add something, if the Senator from Massachusetts will withhold?

Mr. BURNS. Then the Senator will follow the Chair.

Mr. BURNS. And Senator Voinovich of Ohio, and Senator Akaka is after Mr. Isakson. Mr. Akaka, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Voinovich, and Senator Kerry--

Mr. BURNS

Mr. BURNS. I will take the chair.

Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, it is about time we got down to business this afternoon and start taking care of some of these amendments. We would like to dispose of this bill at least by tomorrow. I call up the Coburn amendment No. 1002 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BURNS. I ask for the regular order.

Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I do not know how one signs on to all of what was just stated by my friend from Kentucky. I can also compliment him in a couple of areas and say that I would not be here had it not been for him. I do not know if I should mourn or celebrate that. Nonetheless, if anyone ever visits Kentucky and takes in the traditions of Kentucky, they will find out the former Senator was a part of that landscape and the present-day Senator is the same way. So congratulations.

Mr. BURNS. I yield the floor back to the Senator from Oklahoma on his amendment where we were interrupted, amendment 1019, which is in order.

Mr. BURNS. I thank the Senator from Oklahoma. The argument is made there are very few of us here who do not look for extra funds to put into IHS, and especially in the diabetes program. We know that is important. This year, the committee has included an additional $135 million to support Indian health services. This is the largest increase in many years targeted specifically at providing greater support for hospital and clinical services, dentistry, nursing, diabetes, and other important health services. Funds for population growth and medical inflation have been included for the first time in probably a decade or more. This increase comes at a time when most other agency budgets in the bill are not growing--in fact, many are declining. For example, EPA is reduced $144 million below their current year level; the Forest Service $648 million below; and the National Park Service, $52 million below. I point to these reductions both to underscore the commitment all of us share to improving health care in Indian country, but also to demonstrate that increases for any one agency come at the expense of others. My colleague's amendment proposes to add funds to the special diabetes program. This program was initiated through the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and reauthorized in December 2002 to provide $150 million annually for 5 years beginning in 2004. These are not appropriated dollars, it is a mandatory spending program for the prevention and treatment of diabetes within Indian communities. In addition to this program, the IRS itself spends over $100 million annually from within its appropriation to address diabetes treatment and prevention. There are also other programs funded outside this bill--the Centers for Disease Control comes to mind--that direct funds to Indian country for diabetes work. I mention these programs to highlight the fact there are significant resources being dedicated to diabetes work now with this committee's support and we are encouraged by the impact these funds are having in Indian communities. Alcohol and substance abuse is another area where we are directing a substantial amount of funding into tackling this problem. This budget proposes a $6.3 million increase bringing the total for these efforts up to $145.3 million. Of this funding, 97 percent goes directly to tribally contracted or compacted programs. The committee has been an advocate for this program and has worked to increase funding over the years. Funding levels for these two programs may not be in amounts that are ideal, but they are significant. Other programs of importance to our Members were proposed to take substantial reductions in the budget request, which we have struggled to restore. In the end, as I have said before, we have to strike a balance in this bill. I think the committee bill does a good job of hitting this balance and I urge Members to support the committee position.

Mr. BURNS. I yield for a question.

Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this amendment be set aside. I believe the Senator from Oklahoma has another amendment. Amendment No. 1053

Mr. BURNS. That is perfectly amenable to me. In fact, I would suggest the pending business be set aside and call up amendment No. 1053.

Mr. BURNS. I ask unanimous consent the amendment be adopted by voice vote. First, the unanimous consent is to vitiate the yeas and nays.

Mr. BURNS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. BURNS. I would answer that by saying those citizens who are really, really interested in how we budget and how we spend do have the capabilities and the knowledge to access that information and to follow it.