Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. I hope all Senators heard that. Let me repeat it. We will have a 10-minute debate starting at 10:30 on the Byrd amendment, to be followed by an up-or-down vote. When that vote is completed, there will be 2 minutes to debate the next amendment. What did the Chair say the second amendment is?

Mr. DOMENICI. The Roth amendment on ANWR. After 2 minutes of debate, there will be a vote on or in relation to that. So Senators ought to know that is going to occur. I say to the Senator, I am at some point going to use some time. I could take 5 minutes now--or 10--and discuss it.

Mr. DOMENICI. First, Mr. President, let me see if I understand the amendment Senator Durbin has offered, which he claims to be Governor Bush's tax proposal. On page 4, line 4, what I note is that there is a reduction in revenues in the resolution by $4.8 billion. I wonder if the Senator would confirm that that is correct. I am reading it off the Senator's amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI. All right. On page 4, line 4, revenues in the resolution are reduced by $4.8 billion. Is that correct?

Mr. DOMENICI. On the bottom of the first page of the amendment, it says: ``On page 4, line 4, decrease the amount by $4,843,000,000.'' Is that correct?

Mr. DOMENICI. Could you tell me what year that is?

Mr. DOMENICI. 2001?

Mr. DOMENICI. Does the Senator know there is no tax cut in 2001 in the Bush proposal?

Mr. DOMENICI. My next question was going to be, did you know that Governor Bush's tax plan covered 2002 through 2006? You have it starting in 2001 with almost $5 billion, but you have given an explanation for that. There are two plans out there, and you chose one over the other.

Mr. DOMENICI. Is it fair to assume that a candidate for President is not bound by the economic assumptions that we make in the Senate or that the CBO makes or OMB makes?

Mr. DOMENICI. Let me make a point to the Senator, and I thank the Senator for yielding. Presidential candidate George W. Bush had three of the best economists in America working with him on this tax proposal. Interestingly enough, they made economic assumptions different from the Congressional Budget Office, or the OMB, for the next 5 years. Interestingly enough, the assumptions of the Congressional Budget Office and the OMB have been wrong, and most of the time they have been wrong by underestimating the performance of the economy. They have underestimated the growth in the economy, underestimated the revenue stream, and each year, we have come along later on and had to make adjustments to it. He is entitled to use his economic assumptions, which I have read and are very realistic. And that makes a very big difference if one has slight economic assumptions of a positive nature higher than one would assume in our budget.

Mr. DOMENICI. Yes.

Mr. DOMENICI. I am bound by the rules of the Senate to use the CBO. The President doesn't, however. He uses OMB. Frequently, we are different. As a matter of fact, over the last 3 years, we have gone to the President's numbers, and we have gone back to CBO's numbers because we are trying to find out which is more apt to be right. So there is nothing precise about this. One is entitled--just as President Clinton did when he ran for office--to use his own economic experts as he puts his plan together.

Mr. DOMENICI. Absolutely, except they are not markedly different, but they are different. There is only one Bush plan, as far as the Senator from New Mexico knows. It is December 1, 1999. I have a copy of it in front of me. What has been offered in the Senate is not the Bush plan. Nonetheless, I don't want to argue that exclusively. I can let everybody know that it isn't the Bush plan. I think what is more important is that soon-to-be-President Bush is entitled to put a budget and a tax plan together, and he is entitled to use his best economic advisers. Let me suggest something. I honestly believe that if George W. Bush were the President instead of Bill Clinton being the President, there would be a couple of huge changes this year that would make it a lot easier to achieve the Bush tax plan. First of all, we would not have a President recommending that domestic spending grow at 14 percent a year. That is what we are fighting with here--not with a President who is trying to have small Government so he could give some relief to the taxpayers. We are arguing with a President who has the largest increase in discretionary spending since the Jimmy Carter years. That is a lot, when you can beat one of those years with inflation in double digits. This year it is 14 percent. That is what he is asking for. We have to compete with that in our budgets. We can't just do what a Republican President, who isn't elected yet, would recommend as to how we spend money. As a matter of fact, I have already said that I believe this budget resolution is kind of a holding budget resolution because I believe either man--Bush or Gore--when elected, will ask us to dramatically change this budget. I know George W. Bush will because he will find ways to consolidate and change the priorities of domestic spending in a significant way. When he does that, I have no doubt that he will be able to recommend to the Congress a very good tax plan. Frankly, if we wanted to debate the value of a tax plan and its worth in society, its soundness, we could have a debate on his precise plan. It is a pretty good plan. Frankly, it does a lot of things that a huge majority of this Senate would like to see done to the Tax Code of the United States. So we will have a vote on this amendment. Everybody should understand that it is not really the Bush plan. Everybody should understand that Bush will do his own plan. He will do his own plan on taxes, and he told us what it probably will be. He will do his own budget. It is very important we understand that. It won't be this budget because we have to work off a President's budget with increases of the type I just explained to you. He will have his own budget to work off of. I believe he didn't start his tax cut until one year later because he wanted the opportunity to work on a budget and a fiscal plan for this Nation along with a tax plan. At some point in time, we will either have a vote in relationship to the Durbin amendment, or we will have a second-degree amendment to it. If he insists later on, he can have a vote on his. That is ultimately the way the rules work. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. DOMENICI. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. DOMENICI. I note the presence of the Senator from California, Mrs. Boxer. During the debate on this ANWR amendment, the distinguished Senator stated this was the first budget resolution that ever addressed ANWR, and in the meantime called it an antienvironment resolution. I clarify, and I think she agrees, that in 1996 in the budget resolution we not only referred to ANWR but we reconciled the ANWR instruction to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. I wonder if the Senator would acknowledge that.

Mr. DOMENICI. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 6, 2000 at 9:30 a.m. to conduct an oversight hearing. The subcommittee will receive testimony on the proposed five- year strategic plan of the U.S. Forest Service in compliance with the Government Results and Performance Act.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion and Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 6, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. to hold a joint hearing.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice Oversight be authorized to meet on Thursday, April 6, 2000 at 2:30 p.m., in SD226.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Aviation Subcommittee of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, April 6, 2000 at 9:30 a.m. for a closed briefing on aviation security and at 10 a.m. hearing on aviation security.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 6, 2000 at 2:15 p.m. to hold a closed hearing on intelligence matters.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 6, 2000, for hearings on China's Accession to the World Trade Organization.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 6, 2000 at 9:30 a.m., in open session to receive testimony on procedures and standards for the granting of security clearances at the Department of Defense.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 6, 2000. The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss interstate shipment of State inspected meat.