Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Might I inquire of Senator Lee, how much time would the Senator require?

Mr. CONRAD. Can we have an agreement for 15 minutes? Is that reasonable?

Mr. CONRAD. And if the Senator completes his statement before then, he can yield back--either way.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, Senator Harkin is here, and Senator Harkin needs about 4 minutes; is that right?

Mr. CONRAD. How much time do we have?

Mr. CONRAD. On the other side?

Mr. CONRAD. This might be a useful time to get another consent. If we can have Senator Harkin for 4 minutes, how much time does Senator Johnson need?

Mr. CONRAD. OK. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Harkin speak for 4 minutes and Senator Johnson for 10 minutes.

Mr. CONRAD. How much time do I have remaining?

Mr. CONRAD. I give the Senator 3 minutes.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I would ask Senator Sessions, if I might, for 2 additional minutes because of the time Senator Leahy consumed?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, this is the budget. This is what Senator Sessions has presented as being the President's budget. Do you see a difference? This is what Senator Sessions describes as the President's budget. This is the President's budget. I think it is readily apparent, there is a big difference between the President's budget, which I hold in my hands, and what Senator Sessions has presented as being the President's budget. This is not the President's budget, so of course we are not going to support it. It is not what the President proposed. I yield back our time.

Mr. CONRAD. It does.

Mr. CONRAD. It does permit that.

Mr. CONRAD. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. CONRAD. I would be happy to.

Mr. CONRAD. Well, it is hard to see how it would not. Let me say, in education, it cuts education 59 percent.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Senator.

Mr. CONRAD. Sold.

Mr. CONRAD. I am happy to yield.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, Senator Menendez is here to be recognized for 10 minutes, and we can do that at this point.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the use of calculators be permitted on the Senate floor during consideration of the motions to proceed to budget resolutions.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I wish to go back to the point my colleagues have made. It is fascinating to me. You did not hear them talk for one moment about the substance of their proposals--not a moment. Did you notice that? I wonder why that would be? I think I know. It is because their proposals would take us right back to the failed policies that brought this country to the brink of economic collapse. That is what happened the last time they were in charge. They controlled both bodies from 2001 until 2006, the White House until 2008. So none of those policies they put in place when they controlled both Chambers could be changed. And where were we at the end of 2008? Where were we? We were losing 800,000 jobs a month and the economy was shrinking at a rate of 9 percent. And the proposals they have, the substantive proposals they are making here today, take us right back to those same failed policies. It is no wonder you did not hear them saying one word about the budget proposals on which we are going to be voting because they are the same failed policies that put this country in the ditch. Instead, what you hear them say is that we on our side have no budget. Fascinating. Well, let me just put up again what we passed last year in law called the Budget Control Act. Let me again read from that law. It says: The allocations, aggregates, and levels-- Spending levels-- in subsection . . . shall apply in the Senate in the same manner as for a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2012. In the next clause, it makes the exact same statement for 2013, that the Budget Control Act that was passed last year will serve in the same manner as a budget resolution. Earlier this year, pursuant to that law, I gave the appropriators, which I am required to do under the law, what they could spend, and here it is. I have this chart being blown up. Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, $13,397 million; Armed Services, $146,698 million; Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, $22,167 million; Commerce, Science, and Transportation, $15,016 million; Energy and Natural Resources, $5,276 million. It sounds kind of like a budget does it not? Doesn't that sound kind of like a budget? Well, guess what, it is a budget. It is in the Budget Control Act that we passed last year instead of a budget resolution. Again, anybody who has taken high school civics knows a budget law is stronger than any budget resolution. Why would that be the case? Because a budget resolution is purely a congressional document. It never goes to the President for his signature. A budget law, by definition, has to be signed by the President. So last year, instead of a budget resolution, we passed a budget law called the Budget Control Act. Pursuant to that law, I gave the appropriators--earlier this year, before the deadline--their allocations, and I was just reading from them. Finance, $1,337 billion; Foreign Relations, $28,640 million; Homeland Security, $102,276 million; the Judiciary Committee, $18,545 million; Rules and Administration, $41 million. It sounds a lot like a budget doesn't it? Because that is exactly what it provided. It provided the spending limit this year and for next year. That is in the Budget Control Act we passed in the Senate last year on a strong bipartisan vote, passed the House of Representatives, and signed into law by the President of the United States. So when we hear over and over that there is no budget, no spending limits for this year, it is just not so. There are spending limits for this year. There are spending limits for next year. They are included in the Budget Control Act, which is a law. It was passed. It was signed by the President. That Budget Control Act limited spending for the next 10 years--put spending caps in place. Budget resolutions rarely have spending caps for more than 1 year. The Budget Control Act had 10 years of caps, saving $900 billion. That is the law. I see the Senator from Michigan is on the floor--a very valued member of the Budget Committee. Welcome to this debate. We have been hearing a lot from the other side--interestingly enough, I want to say to the Senator, almost nothing about the substance of their proposals. I assume that is because they want to go back to the same failed policies that put this country in the ditch we are still digging out of. All they want to talk about is not having a budget resolution--not one word that instead of a budget resolution, we passed a budget law, as the Senator well knows, the Budget Control Act. How much time will the Senator need?

Mr. CONRAD. I will allocate the Senator 10 minutes.