Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, would it be appropriate at this moment to take the motion of the Senator? Madam President, could we then consider the Cornyn motion on a voice vote?

Mr. CONRAD. We yield back our time on this side.

Mr. CONRAD. Yes. We would not be yielding the good Senator's time.

Mr. CONRAD. I would ask if we could have a report on the time remaining on the motion of the Senator from Michigan.

Mr. CONRAD. We have a problem. We have less time left than time allocated because the vote has been set at 7:30. So we will try to be reasonable so that both sides have a fair shot at the remaining time. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that on the motion of the Senator from Michigan, we divide the remaining time 15 minutes apiece before the vote.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, let me indicate, on the motion just adopted, the strategy in the reserve fund is not just one item, as the Senator referenced, but involves all of these things--expanding production and use of alternative fuels and alternative-fuel vehicles to promote renewable energy development, to improve electricity transmission, to encourage responsible development of domestic oil and natural gas resources, and to reward conservation and efficiency. There is a production component of what is in the reserve fund. I want to emphasize that and thank the Senator from Michigan for her constructive proposal. I also want to take a moment to respond to a number of points made by my colleague from New Hampshire. Once again, there is no tax increase in this proposal. The fact is, what the President said his budget would produce in revenue is virtually identical to what is in this budget. In fact, there is virtually no difference between what the President said his budget would produce in revenue over the 5 years. He said his budget would produce $14.826 trillion of revenue. My budget produces $14.827 trillion of revenue, virtually no change. If you look at a CBO basis, there is a 2-percent difference. We believe that can be easily accommodated with no tax increase by going after the tax gap, by going after abusive tax havens and fraudulent tax shelters. When the Senator asserts there is no long-term savings, that is not accurate. We have $15 billion of Medicare savings, and we have a reserve fund on health information technology and other health savings. Just on health information technology, the Rand Corporation estimates that if that were employed, we would save $81 billion a year. We also have another health care reserve fund that relates to looking at best practices around the country so that we can ensure savings in the health care accounts in that way and many other proposals to address the long-term fundamental imbalances we have. We all understand the only way those long-term entitlement challenges are going to be fully addressed is in a bipartisan approach outside a 5-year budget resolution because those are much longer term challenges. How much time do we have on this side?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I thank all my colleagues for participating in this debate. These instructions to the conferees will have attention paid to them, and we will do our level best to bring back a budget that will reflect the will of this body.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I would like to correct the record and indicate the motion I have offered, and which supports the underlying resolution, does contain the adoption tax credit, does include the dependent care tax credit, does include the $1,000 child tax credit, the marriage penalty relief, the 10-percent income tax bracket and estate tax reform. So it is all in there.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I thank my colleague. I thank him for his good humor and for working through this as we have proceeded to be ready to vote. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motions be voted in the following order and that the provisions relating to debate time and vote time limitation remain in effect: the Kyl motion to instruct regarding estate tax, the Conrad motion to instruct regarding certain tax cuts, the Gregg motion to instruct regarding certain tax cuts.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, when I indicated that the vote time limitation remain in effect, I think we should probably send that signal to our colleagues. There will be 2 minutes equally divided on each of the motions, and after the first vote, the next two votes will be 10-minute votes.

Mr. CONRAD. All three motions?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we have in the resolution estate tax reform. Mr. President, $3.5 million a person, $7 million a couple is completely exempt from any estate taxation. That will exempt 99.8 percent of the estates, and it is paid for. The Kyl motion is not paid for, would blow a hole in the deficit, would take us back to a failure to balance the budget. I hope our colleagues will support what is in the resolution, what passed the Senate and which does reform the estate tax but does so in a fiscally responsible way.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, if I could prevail on colleagues to be quiet for 1 more minute. They can speak on my colleague's time. I ask colleagues to support this motion. It says to the conferees: Let's insist on those provisions that are in the budget resolution to provide for extension of the $1,000 child tax credit, the marriage penalty relief, the 10-percent bracket, the reform of the estate tax to protect small business and family farms, the extension of the adoption tax credit, the dependent care tax credit, and the treatment of combat pay for EITC purposes. It also insists on section 303 which provides for tax relief, including extensions of other expiring tax provisions if they are offset. This is a tax relief amendment. I hope my colleagues will support commonsense tax relief for middle-income taxpayers and for basic estate tax reform.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, if you like debt, this is your amendment. This will add $250 billion to the debt. If you don't want to balance the budget in 2012, vote for this amendment, because we have a balanced budget in 2012 now. If you pass this amendment now, we will not. The Senator says it is like the Kyl amendment on the estate tax. No, it is not. He preserved part of the estate tax for those at the very highest income level. This eliminates the estate tax. Please, we have made so many strides to balance the budget by 2012. Let's not have another unbalanced budget, one that adds to the debt.

Mr. CONRAD

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

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading, en bloc.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask for a second reading en bloc, and I object to my own request.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, there is some additional business we have been asked to handle. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 9:30 a.m., Thursday, May 10; that on Thursday, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired and the time of the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day; that the Senate then resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 128, H.R. 1495, the Water Resources Development Act, and that the time until 9:45 a.m. be equally divided and controlled between the chair and ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee; that at 9:45 a.m., without further intervening action or debate, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate today, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I thank all my colleagues for their cooperation today. I especially thank the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee for his help and assistance and for his continuing graciousness as we consider the budget resolution, as well as all the Members who participated in the debate. I thought it was a very helpful debate--animated at times but genuine, sincere, and in the best traditions of the Senate. I also wish to take this moment to thank the staffs, especially staff on my side, for unbelievable hours and devotion to getting a final product passed, and one we can be proud of. This staff has worked night and day, weekends, over and over, and I want to thank them publicly and commend them for it. We should also acknowledge the staff on the other side, who have also worked long hours and have conducted themselves in the best tradition of the Senate.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I offer for the record, the Budget Committee's official scoring of the conference report to H.R. 1591, making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007. The conference report includes $124.153 billion in net, new discretionary budget authority for 2007, of which $100.681 billion is for defense activities and $23.472 billion is for nondefense activities. The additional budget authority will increase outlays by $31.935 billion in 2007. Of the total spending authority provided, H.R. 1591 designates $124.789 billion in budget authority as emergency spending, which will increase outlays by $31.926 billion. The conference report to H.R. 1591 is subject to several points of order. First, the conference report includes emergency funding that would cause the $86.3 billion cap on 2007 emergency funding to be exceeded. This cap was included in S. Con. Res. 83, the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2007, and was made applicable by the deeming resolution included in section 7035 of P.L. 109-234. Funding above the cap counts against the subcommittees' allocations and would cause them to exceed their allocations. As a result, the conference report is subject to a point of order under 302(f) of the Congressional Budget Act. Second, the small business tax relief provisions included in the conference report reduce revenues by $4.465 billion over the 2006-2010 period. Because the Congress is over the revenue aggregates under the 2006 budget resolution, the conference report is subject to a point of order under section 311 of the Congressional Budget Act. It should be noted that the tax provisions are fully offset over the 2007-2012 and 2007-2017 periods. Finally, the conference report is subject to a point of order under section 402 of H. Con. Res. 95, the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2006, for including a number of emergency designations for spending on nondefense activities. I commend the distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee for bringing this legislation before the Senate. I ask unanimous consent that the table displaying the Budget Committee scoring of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to an extraordinary scholar, leader, and friend, Dr. David M. Gipp. On May 2, Dr. Gipp will celebrate 30 years at the helm of United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, ND. United Tribes Technical College, UTTC, is the only intertribally owned postsecondary vocational institution in the Nation. Since its founding in 1969, the college has served more than 10,000 students representing 75 federally recognized tribes. During his tenure as president, Dr. Gipp has spearheaded an incredible transformation of the college and in higher education for American Indians. Dr. Gipp was the first executive director of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and later he served as its president. He was instrumental in the formulation of the Tribal Colleges or Universities Assistance Act, which started to address the Federal Government's obligation in providing higher education for American Indians. Under Dr. Gipp's leadership, UTTC has grown from just over 100 students and 12 programs of study to more than 1,018 students for the 2006-2007 school year with 24 different 2-year and certificate programs and bachelor's programs. In this time, Dr. Gipp has led the college's transition from traditional vocational trades to programs geared toward the labor needs of Indian Country. He also propelled UTTC into becoming the first tribal college in the Nation to be authorized to offer full online degree programs. In recent years, Dr. Gripp has led the fight to restore funding for the college that was cut from the Department of Interior's budget. Dr. Gipp has been an agent of positive change in the lives of thousands of students who have attended United Tribes Technical College. He is a true champion for higher education and a powerful national advocate for the tribal colleges. His passion is infectious, and he has empowered individuals to reach to their goals no matter how small or large. John Quincy Adams once said ``[I]f your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.'' Dr. Gipp is a leader in every sense of the word. I want to extend my congratulations to Dr. Gipp on 30 years as president of United Tribes Technical College.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, today I wish to congratulate the Peace Corps on its 46th anniversary and to pay tribute to the many volunteers both at home and abroad for their dedicated service to our country. Since its inception in 1961, the Peace Corps has helped change the lives of millions of people all over the world. There is no organization that better demonstrates America's commitment to developing nations than the Peace Corps. I recently had the opportunity to travel to South America and was able to meet with Peace Corps volunteers in the Andean region. The numerous projects they have been working on to help the local communities are truly impressive. I have known several individuals-- members of my staff, former interns and my own family members--who have volunteered their service to the Peace Corps. The stories of their experiences are remarkable. The gift of service is driven by a passion for something greater than one's self. The men and women of the Peace Corps possess this passion and have shown what a difference one person can make. By helping individuals in developing countries who seek a better life for themselves, their children, and their communities, the Peace Corps shows the world that Americans do truly care. It is vital that the organization and its volunteers continue this important work. Their service is greatly appreciated, and I commend the Peace Corps and its volunteers on 46 years of successful service.

Mr. CONRAD

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