Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Senator for his leadership and the extraordinary effort he has made to get us back on track. I thank him for supporting Simpson-Bowles and the group of six that is now the group of eight. Senator Durbin has spent hundreds of hours in good- faith negotiations to bring both sides together so we actually get a result and not the political charade that so often goes on around here, but serious solutions to serious problems. Senator Wyden is a very valuable member of the Budget Committee and is here on the floor. No Senator has proposed more serious solutions to America's problems than Senator Wyden, and he has done it without the benefit of having a committee staff that he controls. He does it based on his own hard work and the work of his office staff. He has proposed major tax reform, major health care reform, and he has done it in a bipartisan way. In many ways, I think he has set an example for everybody in this Chamber. How much time does the Senator need?

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Senator. I thank him for the extraordinary work he has done on the Budget Committee. I thank him for the extraordinary work he has done as an individual Senator to propose bipartisan tax reform, bipartisan Medicare reform, and the kinds of thoughtful solutions we so desperately need. I see Senator Lautenberg is here. We are glad to have the Senator. How much time would the Senator like?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I wish to inform the Senator from New Jersey that Senator Alexander is scheduled to be here at 12:30 or thereabouts, so if the Senator could consume about that amount of time, we can make this all work.

Mr. CONRAD. The problem is, we are oversubscribed by that. It is difficult to--we have not been yielding for things that are not budget related, I would say to the Senator. So I wonder if it would be agreeable if the Senator would take 5 minutes on the budget, we come back to Senator Reed, if he could take 5 minutes on the budget, and then we go to Senator Toomey for 15 minutes on the budget because he has a substantive budget alternative that deserves additional time.

Mr. CONRAD. I appreciate that very much. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Alexander be recognized for 5 minutes on the budget, Senator Reed of Rhode Island for 5 minutes on the budget, then Senator Toomey for 15 minutes on the budget, and if Senator Coons comes after that point he be recognized for a minute on a separate matter, and then we come back to Senator Whitehouse for 8 minutes. If we could lock those in I think that would help all Members.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I think we allocated 8 minutes to Senator Whitehouse.

Mr. CONRAD. That was part of a unanimous consent agreement so that we could manage the time on the floor better. We have, I say to the Senator, 60 minutes left on our side. I think they have 100 minutes left on their side. We have seven Senators left.

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Senator from Rhode Island. I thank him for his contributions on the Budget Committee. I don't think there has been any stronger voice for fundamental health care reform along the lines of dealing with the system we currently have that, by most accounts, is costing us hundreds of billions of dollars and not adding to the quality of health care. Nobody has been a stronger voice on the Budget Committee or off of it on that subject. I appreciate the Senator's leadership. We have Senator Wicker next. Does the Senator have an estimate as to how much time he may consume?

Mr. CONRAD. Very well. Senator Wicker.

Mr. CONRAD. If I may, if the Senator could do his presentation in about 8 minutes, we have six speakers left and we have 50 minutes.

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Senator.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I thank the Senator, and I thank him for his leadership on these issues. Nobody has been more serious about getting deficits and debt under control than the Senator from Delaware, Mr. Carper. Mr. President, how much time would Senator Grassley like to use?

Mr. CONRAD. Could I say to my colleague, we have 17 minutes left on this side. We have four Senators left to speak. The Senator has, I think, probably 54, 53 minutes left--something like that. So I say to Senator Lieberman, if you could take about 4 minutes, if that would work for you.

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Senator for his courtesy. Mr. President, the place we agree is we have a long-term problem for this country that we must address. I attempted to lay before the Budget Committee, and did lay before the Budget Committee, the Bowles-Simpson plan. It is the one plan that has had bipartisan support. I hope before the year is over that we can go back to it because I think it holds the greatest potential. A key difference Senator Sessions and I have is whether we have a budget for this year and next. I believe it is clear we do. The Budget Control Act that passed last year says that the allocations and spending levels set ``shall apply in the Senate in the same manner as for a concurrent resolution on the budget.'' That is for both 2012 and 2013. I believe our Republican friends want to focus on that because they do not want to focus on the specifics of their budget plans. Recall, the last time they were in charge, when they controlled everything--the House and the Senate and the White House--the Republican policies led us to the brink of financial collapse. The proposals they are advancing today are a return to those failed policies. Remember what happened when they were in charge. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month and the economy was shrinking at a rate of almost 9 percent a year. That is why they do not want to focus on the substance of their plans. Let's focus on the substance for a moment. Every Republican budget ends Medicare as we know it. One Republican budget cuts Social Security benefits by 39 percent. Every Republican budget cuts taxes for millionaires by at least $150,000 a year. And every Republican budget protects offshore tax havens. I have shown on the floor many times a picture of this little building in the Cayman Islands that claims to be the home of 18,857 companies. It is not their home. They are not doing business out of this little five-story business in the Cayman Islands. They are doing monkey business. The monkey business they are doing is avoiding the taxes they owe. Every Republican budget protects this scam. That should not be allowed to continue. I hope my colleagues reject these proposals. I hope we will vote no, and then get onto the serious business of a bipartisan plan to get America back on track, the Simpson-Bowles plan that I presented to the Budget Committee. I yield the floor. I believe all time has expired?

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, this budget plan, the House Republican plan, ends Medicare as we know it. All the while, it provides $1 trillion of additional tax cuts to the wealthiest among us. It gives millionaires, on average, an additional tax cut of $150,000 a year. In addition, it cuts health care by $3 trillion and increases the number of uninsured in our country by 30 million people. I urge my colleagues to reject this budget proposal.

Mr. CONRAD. Yes.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, this is another unbalanced plan. There is very little in the way of revenue to reduce deficits and debt but deep spending cuts in priorities such as education and energy. In fact, this proposal cuts discretionary spending $1 trillion below the Budget Control Act, which cut $900 billion. In addition, this cuts $3 trillion in health care by ending Medicare as we know it and by block-granting Medicaid, holding hostage those who are the most vulnerable among us, children and the disabled. I urge my colleagues to resist this proposal.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, this plan has massive tax cuts for the wealthiest among us. This plan cuts discretionary spending $2 trillion below the Budget Control Act that cut $900 billion. This plan ends Medicare in 2 years. This plan repeals health care reform. Thirty million more people would be uninsured. Perhaps most stunningly, this plan cuts Social Security benefits 39 percent. One can say it balances, but it balances at an extraordinary cost. And the cost is borne by those least able to bear the cost. I urge my colleagues to reject this plan.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the Senator deserves to be heard.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, this budget proposal has the most serious mistakes I have seen in 26 years of dealing with budgets in this Chamber. This budget starts with an $8 trillion mistake on the size of the deficit. I have put up the calculation. This budget has Federal revenues of $27.5 trillion, budget outlays of $37.2 trillion, for a difference of $9.750 trillion. But it claims deficits of $1.750 trillion. That is an $8 trillion mistake. No. 2, it has a $5.7 trillion mistake with respect to budget authority. If we add up the individual budget function totals, they are $5.7 trillion less than the aggregate budget authority totals in what is being offered by the Senator. No. 3, this requires some committees to cut more spending than they have available to them in their resources. For example, the HELP Committee is instructed to save $2.7 trillion, and they only have $510 billion available to them to cut. This budget is shot full of basic fundamental mistakes. It should not even be considered as a budget on the floor.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 16, 2012, at 10 a.m.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 16, 2012, at 2:30 p.m. in room SR 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. The Committee will hold a hearing entitled, ``Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.''

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 16, 2012, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet, during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Identifying Opportunities for Health Care Delivery System Reform: Lessons from the Front Line'' on May 16, 2012, at 10 a.m. in room SD 430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on May 16, 2012, at 10 a.m., in room SD 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Oversight of the Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.''