Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, today I would like to pay tribute to Colonel Pete Bunce of the United States Air Force. Over the past few years, he has earned my personal thanks many times over for a job well done. Many of us in the Senate know Colonel Bunce, who for the last 3 years has served as liaison to the both the Budget and Appropriations Committees. He has been a strong advocate for the Air Force and has worked tirelessly to improve communications between the Air Force and the Senate. Colonel Bunce has been a good friend to the State of North Dakota and to this Senator. He has provided important assistance to me in organizing many meetings with the top leadership of the Air Force and the Department of Defense. Community leaders from the three North Dakota communities with the closest ties to the Air Force--Fargo, Grand Forks, and Minot--have all been able to join me for high-level Pentagon visits thanks to his help. He and his staff have also always been tremendously helpful in the Budget Committee's deliberations on national defense spending. His professional advice helped me better understand the costs and sacrifices made by our military personnel during this war. I know many of my colleagues feel the same way. His personal testimony as the parent of a troop in harm's way was even more valuable. Pete's son, Justin, came home wounded from Iraq. Just as he was recovering from that injury, he was in a serious car accident. I want Pete to know that he, Justin, and the entire Bunce family are in my thoughts and prayers. While I have relied on Colonel Bunce's military advice, I have valued his friendship even more. Pete, as you enter into a well deserved retirement, please know that you go with the best wishes of this Senator and all of us in the Senate.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, apparently Senator Dorgan's amendment No. 210 was not reported so we ask to call it up.

Mr. CONRAD. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. CONRAD. We now have that amendment in the queue and that is what we wanted to accomplish. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CONRAD. I ask my colleague if I could have 1 minute of his time on this amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, can you advise us of the time remaining on this amendment?

Mr. CONRAD. From 7 to 7:30 is the Snowe-Wyden amendment. We will put in a quorum call so they can prepare to offer their amendment. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I will retain all of my time. That was a joke. It would be a real interesting day tomorrow, wouldn't it? I just think we should make clear that at the end of this evening we will be yielding back on both sides all of our time with the exception of the time we have laid out in this agreement. Is that correct?

Mr. CONRAD. So the next amendment up would be Senator Wyden; is that correct?

Mr. CONRAD. Yes.

Mr. CONRAD. That is very kind. I will take just a minute. I thank Senator Salazar for offering this amendment. This amendment is important to rural States such as mine. This amendment makes a real difference in States such as North Dakota and Colorado in rural education and in funding for rural healthcare outreach. Senator Salazar has proposed an offset to take some of the very significant increase in international affairs and redirect it to rural America. Rural America is hurting in many parts of this Nation. Right at the heart of the need for revitalization is education and healthcare. Those are two of the areas that have been targeted by Senator Salazar's amendment. This is a very modest amount of money, but it sends a big signal. I hope my colleagues can find it possible to support this amendment. I thank Senator Salazar for his leadership. At this moment, I would like to call up Senator Dorgan's amendment No. 210 so that it is formally noticed and in the queue. We don't need to say any more about it. It will be part of the voting sequence tomorrow, and Senator Dorgan will have a chance to describe his amendment. Somebody will have a chance to say something on the other side.

Mr. CONRAD. If I could briefly describe to my colleagues the negotiation we have had this evening? I know there will be colleagues who will come tomorrow who will be disappointed. Senator Gregg and I apologize to them in advance. Here is the circumstance that we confront. We have over 70 amendments still pending, not counting the 20-some amendments we have in the queue. If we just do the math, that is 90 amendments. We can do three amendments an hour. That would be 30 hours of steady voting. If we start at 1 o'clock tomorrow and we have to go 30 hours, do the math. What Senator Gregg and I have tried to do is to at least begin the process at 1 o'clock tomorrow afternoon or thereabouts. Again, for colleagues who are disappointed, I apologize. I know Senator Gregg feels the same way. We would like to have every colleague get all of the time they desire. It is just not possible and reach conclusion. One other thing I should say to my colleagues, for those who think, couldn't we just go over into Friday morning? We have a number of colleagues who, because of funerals, because of health conditions, cannot be here Friday morning. That means if we do not finish tomorrow night, we are going to be here Friday night. I do not think anybody who has been through this process doesn't understand if we are here Friday night we are going to be here Saturday. To colleagues who are disappointed, I am sorry, but we have done our level best to give people some amount of time to offer their amendments. I think we have done it in as fair and as equitable a way as is possible.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the more I listen to this debate about the budget, the more I feel as though I am in some time warp, or some sort of surreal out-of-body experience because the other side talks about the need for more tax cuts and more spending. They never talk about the fiscal condition of the country at this moment. They never talk about where it is all headed. This is the circumstance we face tonight as we meet. This looks back to 1980. The green line is the revenue line, and the red line is the expenditure line of the Federal Government. The last time our Republican friends were in control back in the 1980s, we can see the expenditure line is way above the revenue line as a result of the massive deficits. Then a Democrat took office, and the spending line came down steadily. The revenue line went up, and the result was we balanced the budget, we stopped using Social Security money for other purposes. Then we got another Republican administration, and the revenue line collapsed, the spending line moved up, and the deficits again opened up dramatically. That is a fact. That is undeniable. That is what happened. Our Republican friends are plenty ready to spend the money, but they do not want to raise the taxes to cover their spending, and they don't want to cut their spending to match their revenue. The result is deficits as far as the eye can see. Here is what has happened since our Republican friends took over. The deficits have gone through the roof. It is not only the deficits, but the debt as well. The debt was $3.3 trillion--publicly held debt--and now it is headed for $9.4 trillion. Our Republican friends come with a budget that they say is fiscally responsible, but their own numbers give lie to the rhetoric. If you look at their own budget document on page 5 where they estimate how much they are going to increase the debt each and every year of this budget, here is what it shows. They are going to increase the debt $669 billion this year, $636 billion next year, $624 billion the next year, $612 billion the next year, and $611 billion the fifth year. They say they are cutting the deficits in half, but the debt goes up every year by over $600 billion, according to their own estimates. The Senator from Delaware comes with an amendment that says you shouldn't have special protection to further reduce the revenue base. You shouldn't have special protection that says we take the revenue base that has already collapsed and reduce it further with special protections from the traditional way of doing business in the Senate. Instead, if somebody wants to have more tax cuts, they should pay for them. There is an old-fashioned idea--pay for it. That is what the Senator from Delaware is saying. You can have more tax cuts, but pay for them, either reduce the spending to pay for them, or increase revenue somewhere else to pay for it, but don't tack it onto the debt. Don't add it to the deficit. Don't shove this onto our kids. Don't add this onto the already burgeoning Federal debt. It is a conservative idea. It says let us pay for what we do around here. I thank the Senator for his comments.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, could we be updated on the time situation.

Mr. CONRAD. Would the Chair advise me after I have consumed 5 minutes?

Mr. CONRAD. If we have a situation that requires a side by side, then the chairman and I will work it out so we get a side by side.

Mr. CONRAD. All right.

Mr. CONRAD. We are in a quorum call?

Mr. CONRAD. I think one thing we could say to people is, to make clear what we are trying to do between us, the managers. We are operating in some ways on faith here, faith of trust between us.

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

Mr. CONRAD. Dorgan amendment on runaway plants.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, might I suggest one other refinement, that we agree on no second-degree amendments. That is the agreement we already made between us. Maybe that would give people some comfort.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, if I could just alert colleagues, if we could hear from Senator Lieberman's office and Senator Clinton's office about their being able to discuss their amendments tonight, that would help us reach a conclusion on tonight's activities. I ask Senator Gregg if it would not be wise for us to alert colleagues with respect to votes tonight before we start on this hour of discussion?

Mr. CONRAD. Well, I think people know who is on the list. I have just asked Senator Lieberman's and Senator Clinton's office to get in touch with us if they are able to proceed tonight, which I think they are. With respect to votes, if we could alert colleagues as to that, I think that would be useful before this discussion starts.