Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, before I go to the Conrad amendment, I will take 5 minutes off the resolution. The Senator is correct; we are now talking about the fundamental differences between us. We believe you ought to pay for your spending. We believe we ought to pay the bills we are generating. We believe on the Democratic side that you ought to match your spending with your revenue so you are not increasing the debt. Our friends on the other side of the aisle have taken a distinctly different position. Their position is you increase spending. The Senator has identified the increased spending in his own budget, but he will not raise the revenue to cover his spending. He won't make the hard choices. He won't cut his spending to match the revenue he is willing to raise, and he will not raise revenue to cover his increases in spending. The result is the debt is mounting dramatically because our friends on the other side of the aisle refuse to pay the bill. They want to spend the money, but they do not want to pay for it. When I grew up, common sense told you, responsibility told you, that you pay your bills. You pay your bills. If you don't have the money, you don't spend the money. That is the way I was raised. Here is what is happening.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I will not argue with the Senator on the need for this additional defense spending. My own view has been that what the President asks for at a time of war with respect to the defense, we ought to provide. We ought to stand shoulder to shoulder with the President at a time of war with respect to defense expenditures. What I do want to ask the Senator, how is he funding this increase? Is it correct that the Senator is paying for this increase with cuts in function 920?

Mr. CONRAD. We ask unanimous consent for a minute apiece.

Mr. CONRAD. I will be happy to complete my thought and finish. Over all the years when we were in control, Republicans did not offer alternative budgets. With respect to what we did in committee, every amendment we offered was paid for. The Senator is entirely correct. We offered amendments with revenue of $133 billion and with increased spending of $126 billion. So we paid for every amendment. We didn't pay for it with tax increases. We paid for it by closing the tax gap, money that is owed that is not being paid, which the revenue commissioner has said could be collected. I ask for an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. CONRAD. And we offered to close tax loopholes, these egregious tax loopholes that we have pointed out repeatedly. That is not a tax increase. It is more revenue. It is not a tax rate increase on anyone. But that gets us back to the fundamental question of, What is the direction we are going to take? Are we going to continue to run up the debt of the country, as the chairman proposes? Or are we going to take a new turn and go back to the budget disciplines that have worked in the past? I urge my colleagues to go back to the budget disciplines we have had in the past. If you want to spend more money, you have to pay for it. If you want to have more tax reductions, you have to pay for them. It is a simple principle. We have had it in the past. The chairman has endorsed it in the past. It is the right course.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, let me just say----

Mr. CONRAD. Let's take a minute and a half.

Mr. CONRAD. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. CONRAD. And how much time remains on the other side on the amendment?

Mr. CONRAD. There is no objection to that.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, let's make clear, when we say ``all the amendments,'' what we are intending is that all the amendments that are in order to be voted on at this point.

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair.

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair.

Mr. CONRAD. That will take us to 3 o'clock, at which time we will be voting. I yield to Senator Bingaman 2 minutes.

Mr. CONRAD. Am I correct, then, in understanding that the Senator would pay for this increase in defense in part by cutting homeland security?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, is it not correct that under the previous understanding, there will be 2 minutes before each vote for a wrapup? That has been our usual practice. That was the unanimous consent agreement previously entered.

Mr. CONRAD. If the Chair could inform me how much time is left on our side on the amendment?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. CONRAD. No, we would not.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, could we ask Members, we are getting a feedback through the system of somebody's BlackBerry. If Members can make sure to check their electronics before they come on the floor. Will the Chair inform us what the order is?

Mr. CONRAD. I agree.

Mr. CONRAD. I am afraid I have only got a minute left.

Mr. CONRAD. Maybe we could at this moment then put that in place.

Mr. CONRAD. Senator Durbin has a disaster in his hometown.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 5 minutes Senator Feingold used be attributed to the amendment and taken off the amendment time.