Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. I think we have some others in between to fill out the time. I think Senator Coburn is not until 2:15, so we have some others to fill in so we use the time as efficiently as we can during the period. With that, I think, Mr. President, the next person to be recognized would be Senator Murkowski.

Mr. CONRAD. Fifteen minutes. All right. Then on our side, it would be Senator Harkin for approximately 30 minutes.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we do not have a formal agreement but an informal agreement. We would go to Senator Murkowski for her remarks. Can the Senator give us an idea, roughly, how long she might proceed?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we are on the budget.

Mr. CONRAD. I was going to take some time at this moment on the same subject. I, too, regret we have gotten onto the PATRIOT Act, but since we have, I feel a need to take on a couple of these points.

Mr. CONRAD. I will not take long.

Mr. CONRAD. I have no objection.

Mr. CONRAD. No, no, I will be very brief and then we will go to Senator Stevens.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, let me say, reserving the right to object, we had made a commitment to other Senators in terms of an order here. The next Senator to be recognized is Senator Byrd on our side. I am informed that he is on his way here. I would be constrained to object. I would be happy to work with the leader on that side to work out an order.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent for 30 seconds on this subject.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, it has been suggested that the PATRIOT Act has been killed. The PATRIOT Act has not been killed. The PATRIOT Act is alive and well until December 31. So the fact is, we have time to get this right. And if we cannot get it right before December 31, then we have the potential to extend it, whether it is 3 months or 6 months or 9 months or some other time. The point is, no one has killed the PATRIOT Act. The PATRIOT Act is still on the books. It is alive and well until December 31. So this issue has not yet been decided.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we have Senator Schumer next, who will consume 10 minutes. Then we have Senator Allard, who probably will be here at that point. We will go to Senator Allard for half an hour. Then we would like to go to Senator Stabenow for 10 minutes. At approximately noon, Senator Stevens for half an hour, followed by Senator Murkowski from 12:30 to 12:50. We hope to slot Senator Harkin from 12:50 to approximately 1:30.

Mr. CONRAD. That is correct.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I would be happy to yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Illinois. And then how much time would the Senator from Montana like?

Mr. CONRAD. I ask unanimous consent that after the Senator from Illinois, we go to the Senator from Montana for 25 minutes.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, in many ways the chairman has made my case, because the hard reality here is this bill does virtually nothing to address the deficit and debt crisis we face as a Nation. This bill has $40 billion of cuts over 5 years. The first year the cut is $5 billion in a budget of $2.5 trillion. According to the math I learned growing up in Bismarck, ND, that is reducing the spending by 1/500 of the budget. Of course this is only chapter 1 of reconciliation. Chapter 2 is going to cut taxes, either, according to the Senate version, $70 billion, or the House version, $95 billion. In the House version in the first year they would cut the spending $5 billion and cut taxes $21 billion. Guess what. The deficit is not reduced. The deficit is increased. The deficit is increased, not reduced by this package of reconciliation. But it is not just the first year or the 5 years; the thing nobody is paying any attention to is the growth of the debt. Last year the deficit was $319 billion, but that is not how much the debt increased. The debt increased by $551 billion. Under this budget plan over the next 5 years, the debt of this country is going up $600 or $700 billion a year, each and every year. We are going from a total debt in this country of $7.9 trillion at the end of last year to a projection, by those who are the advocates of this plan, of $11.3 trillion 5 years from now. Is anybody paying attention? This is a budget that is going to increase the debt of the country, according to its own advocates, by $3.4 trillion. There will be $3.4 trillion of added debt. And they have a title of ``deficit reduction''? No. That is not going to pass any test. It is not deficit reduction we are talking about in this budget plan we are now in the final steps of considering. Mr. President, I notice Senator Chambliss is on the floor. He is supposed to be having this time. I will alert colleagues--is Senator Chambliss prepared to proceed?

Mr. CONRAD. Whatever time the Senator consumes, we will go to Senator Kennedy for 15 minutes and then to Senator Schumer, so colleagues have an understanding of where we are headed. Then my understanding is we try to slot in Senator Stabenow, and then Senator Allard, we have been told, would like to speak at 11:30, and then Senator Stevens at noon. We have not gotten a formal agreement on that, but that is the informal agreement at this point. If Senator Gregg has a need to respond to something in between, he would certainly have that right.

Mr. CONRAD. Why don't we go to Senator Chambliss. My understanding is the Senator will take 15 minutes; is that correct?

Mr. CONRAD. And Senator Coburn after that. We are trying to put colleagues on notice. That is basically the speaking order. At this point we yield 10 minutes to the Senator from New York, Senator Schumer.

Mr. CONRAD. I am happy to yield the minute.

Mr. CONRAD. I am happy to yield 15 minutes to the Senator from Massachusetts.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, on his side I think will be the most appropriate.

Mr. CONRAD. If we could have Mr. Talent go first, we have a bit of a logjam we need to work out on this side. I ask Senator Rockefeller to withhold for one moment. The problem is there are multiple Members who wish to speak on a matter unrelated to the budget at this moment on this side. We have to work that out, so it will take a moment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, for the information of my colleagues, Senator Wyden is next. We have been told he is on his way. We hope he will appear shortly. Then we will have Senator Grassley at approximately 4 o'clock. He will go for 20 or 30 minutes, or something like that. At this point, maybe it is an appropriate time to try to sum up some of the arguments we have tried to make with respect to this budget. The matter before us reduces spending by $40 billion over a 5-year period. During that period, we will be spending $14.3 trillion. In the first year, this package saves $5 billion. The tax cuts the House wants to apply in that same period are $21 billion. That doesn't reduce the deficit. It increases the deficit. The thing that is I think most disturbing about this budget plan is, according to its advocates, the debt of the country increases by $600 billion or $700 billion a year, each and every year of the 5 years of this budget. That is unsustainable. We are not making any serious progress. In fact, this package makes things worse. I see Senator Wyden is here. I yield up to 15 minutes to Senator Wyden.

Mr. CONRAD. Senator Talent is up.