Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. I yield 7 minutes to the Senator.

Mr. CONRAD. Certainly.

Mr. CONRAD. I yield 7 minutes to the Senator from Iowa.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, maybe I can review the points the Senator from Iowa is making on the amendment that we will vote on very shortly. The Grassley amendment, while well intended, has a very unfortunate consequence. We have gone back now and looked at the year-by-year numbers in the Republican budget resolution. What we find is very clear. If the Grassley amendment for additional support for agriculture passes, he is going right into the Medicare trust fund in the years 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. I believe strongly that we ought to increase support for agriculture. We have an amendment to do that. It is the Johnson amendment that will follow the Grassley amendment. But we do not raid Medicare trust funds to do it. That is a profound mistake, and it is precisely what the Grassley amendment does. If one looks at the budget we are considering this year and then the following 10 years, if you take out the Grassley amendment that previously passed for prescription drugs and the funding in each year for that initiative, then you take out the Grassley agricultural amendment and the funding it requires in each of the years, you find that you are raiding the Medicare trust fund by $15 billion in the year 2005, by $13 billion in the year 2006, by $10 billion in the year 2007, and by $4 billion in the year 2008. So that is a total raid on the Social Security trust fund of $42 billion. It is just wrong. But it is what the amendment of the Senator from Iowa does, perhaps unwittingly.

Mr. CONRAD. Yes.

Mr. CONRAD. It goes to the fundamental problem of the Bush budget and the fundamental problem of the Republican budget which is trying to match the Bush budget. Of course, we don't even have the Bush budget before us. But with the kind of rudimentary outline he has provided us, it simply doesn't add up because the tax cut is so large. When you try to adjust the spending provisions, as both Republicans and Democrats now want to do--we saw that yesterday; Republicans agreed that we need twice as much money for a prescription drug benefit. Today we see the Republicans agree we need substantially more for agriculture. Unfortunately, what they have proposed is inadequate. It provides $64 billion over the 11 years. Our proposal would provide $97 billion. But the biggest problem is the source of the funds.

Mr. CONRAD. They are--as can be clearly seen with the combined effect of the amendment they adopted yesterday on prescription drugs and the amendment they seek to adopt today --raiding the Medicare trust fund in the years 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. That just can't be the way we do business. The Johnson amendment, instead, provides that we take this money first out of the surplus for the year 2001, and thereafter out of the oversized tax cut which goes disproportionately to the wealthiest 1 percent.

Mr. CONRAD. That is the description they gave. But the problem is, their budget doesn't work. When you break it down year by year, it doesn't add up. And that is the problem they have. Maybe they were hoping nobody would notice or hoping nobody would bother to add it up and see they are raiding the trust fund. But they are. And it is undeniable they are raiding the trust fund in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. That is the reality. Does the Senator from South Dakota seek time?

Mr. CONRAD. How much time?

Mr. CONRAD. I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from South Dakota.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, while we are waiting--we had a Senator call and request time, so we will wait for that Senator. I hope to give her time. I see her entering the Chamber now. Let me go back to the point I was making earlier because I think it is critically important for our colleagues to understand. I think everybody knows that this Senator is strongly supportive of additional resources for agriculture. We have an amendment that does that in a straightforward way without taking money from trust funds, the Johnson amendment. The problem is the Grassley amendment we will vote on first, which provides less of an increase in agriculture and does it in a way that invades the trust fund of Medicare in the years 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. I don't believe that is the way we want to fund additional resources for agriculture. That would be a serious mistake. It is very clear. If one looks at the Republican budget and the Grassley prescription drug amendment that passed yesterday, and then the Grassley agricultural amendment that is pending, and looks at the year-by-year totals, one sees they are raiding and invading the Medicare trust fund in the year 2005 by $15 billion, they are raiding the Medicare trust fund in the year 2006 by $13 billion, they are raiding the Medicare trust fund in the year 2007 by $10 billion, they are raiding the Medicare trust fund in the year 2008 by $4 billion. That is a total of $42 billion taken out of the Medicare trust fund. I don't think that is the way to fund agriculture or anything else. Colleagues should be aware of what they are voting on and what the effect would be. Mr. President, what is the time remaining on our side?

Mr. CONRAD. I ask the Senator from Michigan if she would like time.

Mr. CONRAD. How much time would the Senator like?

Mr. CONRAD. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Michigan.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, how much time do I have?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Baucus and Senator Dayton be shown as cosponsors of the Johnson amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I want to enter into the Record letters from Senators requesting approximately $10 billion a year to be added over this 10-year period to the support for agriculture. This is a letter from 44 Senators, including 19 Republicans, asking for an amount of money--actually asking for somewhat more than is in the Johnson amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. I also ask unanimous consent that this letter be printed in the Record. It is a request to Senator Domenici from Southern Senators, Republicans and Democrats, for an amount of money that is actually in the Johnson amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from Senator Crapo asking for an amount of money actually somewhat more than is in the Johnson amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the question of the amount of money is guided by what our competitors are doing. The Europeans, who are our major competitors, are outspending us by a very wide margin. The amount of money in the Johnson amendment is intended to approach what our major competitors are doing. It doesn't equal them, but it is to at least give our farmers a fair, fighting chance.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the Senator from Texas makes a very interesting proposition. He said write a new farm bill and then decide on the budget. That has it exactly backwards. That is not how we do business. We decide on a budget; then we write a farm program. I also remind my colleagues that the amount of money being sought in the Johnson amendment is the amount of money we have had each of the last 3 years to cope with this farm crisis--the lowest prices in 75 years. That is the basis of the calculation of the need. The amendment of the Senator from Iowa restricts us to far less than we have had each of the last 3 years to meet this farm crisis. It is also true that our major competitors are outspending us 10 to 1 in support for their producers and are outspending us 30 to 1 in export assistance. It is no wonder our farmers do not have a level playing field. Finally, the Grassley amendment raids the Medicare trust fund to support the additional resources for agriculture. That is a mistake.

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

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. CONRAD. How much time was consumed on the last vote?

Mr. CONRAD. Fifty minutes. I thank the Chair. Mr. President, we have just passed, after a 50-minute vote, a measure that raids the Medicare trust fund in the years 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 to the tune of $42 billion. That is what the amendment just passed does. It raids the Medicare trust fund in each and every one of those years to supply more resources to agriculture. This amendment provides additional resources to agriculture, but it does it the right way. It doesn't touch any of the trust funds. It doesn't touch the Social Security trust fund. It does not touch the Medicare trust fund. It funds the money out of the tax cut.