Michael Enzi

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time until 4:45 p.m. today be equally divided between the managers or their designees, and that at 4:45 p.m., the Senate vote in relation to the following amendments in the order listed, with no second-degree amendments in order prior to the votes: Stabenow No. 755; Barrasso No. 347; Sanders No. 777, as modified, on climate change; Blunt No. 350 on EPA; Hatch No. 796 on Medicare; Bennet-Stabenow No. 601 on Medicare; Murray No. 801 on sequester replacement; Cotton No. 481 on Israel. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes equally divided between the managers or their designees prior to each vote, and that all votes after the first in this series be 10 minutes in length.

Mr. ENZI. For the information of all Senators, there will be up to eight rollcall votes at 4:45 p.m. I allocate time to the Senator from Montana.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, we yield back the time in opposition.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, if we want to change the Budget Control Act of 2011, we need to pass the bill to do so later in the year. The budget resolution cannot fix sequestration. This particular amendment increases both defense spending and nondefense spending. Without a justification, it calls for spending $148 billion more than allowed by the BCA. The BCA requires the defense program to receive half of the reductions. That is not the case here. With nondefense limits, much work remains to eliminate inefficiencies in the nondefense side of the ledger. According to the CBO, there are 260 programs spending $293 billion in the 2015 budget that are not operating under a current authorization. That means the policy experts haven't done their work. So we can't tell if we need that much more money. This amendment seeks more money for nondefense. This amendment calls for an increase in spending and pays for it by extracting more taxes from American taxpayers. The tax increases in this amendment total $120 billion. Finally, perhaps the most important reason----

Mr. ENZI. I ask for a ``no'' vote.

Mr. ENZI. I was suggesting that he revise his unanimous consent request so that we would go back and forth from side to side, rather than a whole lot of people going on one side, and people waiting on the other side.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I will raise a point of order against this amendment. The amendment offered by my friends across the aisle would prohibit consideration of certain Medicare legislation. I know all my colleagues are committed to preserving Medicare. We all want Medicare to be there for today's and tomorrow's seniors, and right now its finances are deteriorating rapidly. However, my colleague's amendment is not germane to the budget resolution. The Committee on Finance has jurisdiction over the Medicare program. The Committee on the Budget does not. The Bennet-Stabenow amendment instructs the Committee on Finance how to write a Medicare reform bill--language that is inappropriate to include in a budget resolution. In fact, adopting this amendment would kill the privilege of the budget resolution. For this reason, I am compelled, as chairman of the Committee on the Budget, to raise a point of order against the amendment. Mr. President, the pending amendment, No. 601, is not germane to the budget resolution now before the Senate. Therefore, I raise a point of order against this amendment under section 305(b)2 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. ENZI. I don't think there is anybody on either side of the aisle who isn't concerned about student debt, the cost of interest and college and the number of people graduating with debt. Addressing college costs and the burden of high student debt loans must be a priority, but it can't be done on a budget bill. We can't have policy on a budget resolution. I know this doesn't include all of her policy, so it is an incomplete bill. The Office of Management and Budget last month disclosed that participation in the existing income-based repayment plan has been much higher than was anticipated, and the administration is currently in the process of extending those existing repayment options to all the eligible borrowers with outstanding student loans. Therefore, the OMB now projects that the existing student loan portfolio will cost taxpayers an additional $22 billion. That is $22 billion more being spent to alleviate the repayment burden of borrowers with outstanding debt. We can find that number in the President's budget. The CBO did score the bill that Senator Warren introduced last Congress on which this amendment is based. The CBO projected that the government will make billions in profit--listen to this--from buying tens of billions worth of private student loans from banks and refinancing them at lower rates. They are going to buy up loans and then refinance those loans at lower rates, and somehow the way that scores is positive for the Federal Government? Wow. That is why we are talking about needing some changes in the way we do scoring around here. Think about that. If the government can make money from buying up private loans while charging the borrower a lower rate, why stop there? We can make trillions for the country. CBO, as well as leading academic economists and think tanks, all believe credit reform accounting is seriously flawed. They favor fair value accounting under which loans are valued at what they are worth to the private sector. Last year CBO showed that under fair value accounting, the Federal student loan portfolio does not make a big profit. It actually has a significant cost. One of the reasons for some of the high interest rates is that when the Affordable Care Act was passed, it set those rates higher so there would be revenue for the Affordable Care Act. I hope we will defeat this amendment and support the bipartisan King- Burr proposal. I yield the floor. Amendment No. 622

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, since my friend from across the aisle raised the issue of climate change, I will use the remainder of my time to talk about that issue because I will urge my colleagues to vote no on amendment No. 777. We voted earlier--and it was a unanimous vote--that climate change is real. I believe virtually everyone agrees that over time the Earth's climate has shifted at various levels of speed and in various directions. I had an opportunity to go on a trip to China, and we visited one of the country's labs researching climate change. I had the opportunity to tour the lab with the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin. One of the amazing things was--as we finished the tour after looking at five different ways the scientists were measuring what caused climate change and how real it was--when Senator Durbin said to me: I am sure glad Senator Inhofe is not with us because this backs up everything Senator Inhofe has been saying. So climate change is an issue that has not really been resolved among all the scientists, even in some countries that have different opinions than we do. Every snowstorm, every heat wave that we have today--we have changed it from global warming to climate change because now we are blaming everything on this phenomenon. One of the comments I made is that instead of spending $5 billion on one side to prove there is climate change and another $5 billion on the other side to disprove climate change, maybe we ought to spend $10 billion a year just on fixing things. So I think there are some problems with the amendment, and I hope my colleagues will vote no. I see that it is almost time for the vote, so I yield back our time. Go ahead and start on the vote. Amendment No. 755

Mr. ENZI. We would be happy to take that amendment. We would prefer to do that by voice vote because we have a lot of votes pending.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, are they going back and forth or exactly in that order? Normally, we allow both sides.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oregon for his comments. One of the things that has concerned me since I came to the Senate is the fact that, in my first year alone, I believe we spent about $3 billion in disaster relief. Subsequently, it increased to $5 billion for disasters per year, and now it is about $7 billion in disasters a year. As an accountant, one of the things I have always said is, if you know something is going to happen, you ought to put it in the budget. So now you will find that there is $7 billion in disaster relief funding for each of the 10 years in this budget. Using these funds for fires and major disasters sounds like a good idea to me. I am a little bit rankled when I hear somebody say this budget is a farce. It is as good an effort as a person can put together in 6 weeks when there hasn't been one for 8 years. That effort involves a lot of research, going back to find out where the problems were, why it wasn't done, and what needed to be done. I am pleased with the budget. But, of course, the reason we have this process--in which we had the committee mark-up last week and considered a number of amendments and now will consider many more amendments here on the floor--is so that everybody can participate in seeing if we can complete the budget. It won't be perfect when we finish, but it will be better than it is right now, and it will be better when we start tomorrow morning. Before we continue consideration of our balanced budget resolution today, I think it is worthwhile to reflect on what we accomplished yesterday for America's hard-working families. It was a good day yesterday as we approved amendments to prevent workplace retaliation against employees who ask or talk about salaries; to oppose cuts to Medicaid; to coordinate care for medically complex children with multiple serious, rare, or chronic illnesses; and to help our veterans gain timely access to health care. As Senator Ayotte said yesterday, her amendment would ``ensure veterans don't have to wait in line, that they can exercise private care options when they want to.'' I am proud to say that is something we all support. The debate this week is a unique opportunity for hard-working taxpayers to see an open and transparent legislative process, with Members from both sides of the aisle offering, debating, and voting on amendments to this resolution. This is something we haven't had in the past 8 years, and I think Members are energized to be able to do what they were sent here to do--the people's business. Among the topics we will consider today are: enhancing America's energy security, protecting personal property rights from such agencies as the EPA, defending taxpayers against efforts to impose a carbon tax, helping veterans get better access to VA medical facilities, simplifying student loan repayment options, and saving Medicare. I again thank Members for offering amendments that will help make our government more efficient, effective, and accountable to America's hard-working taxpayers. It is what the American people want and deserve. I look forward to a strong and vigorous debate about our policies today. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from New Hampshire.

Mr. ENZI. Madam President, I don't think we have a problem with this amendment. Again, I ask the Senator if he would be willing to voice- vote it.

Mr. ENZI. Does the Chair wish to change places at this time?

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Colleagues, good morning. Working with Senator Sanders yesterday, we made good progress on opening day for the budget resolution. It might not have been as fun as being at opening day for baseball, but getting underway on the first balanced budget resolution this Senate has seen in nearly 20 years was pretty exciting for me, and I appreciate the good work and the full debate we have had. Today, I am looking forward to more work on a variety of amendment ideas for the resolution. Some Senators want to debate amendment ideas that have to do with the budget and some Senators want to debate amendment ideas that have nothing to do with the budget. So we will hear from some Senators today on issues such as our spending caps or the sequester, how best to preserve and protect Social Security, and what is the best way to ensure women are treated fairly in the workforce. Other Senators may want to discuss items such as how to treat the waterways of the United States, free from overreach from the EPA, or how our communities and localities are under siege from Washington when it comes to ideas about taxing carbon or coal, and Senators may wish to discuss how our national security is best served by the spending levels contemplated in the budget. But we will also hear about something that really interests me, as it marries the numbers our budget resolution carries with the work our committees and Congress can do once the budget is passed. I think one of the frustrations of the other side is this is a fairly general budget because it sets the spending limits for the committees and then builds in some reserve funds for some flexibility. It doesn't go into the specifics of exactly how the committees are to operate. The reason for that is the committees are the people who have at least an intense interest in that field or maybe even a lot of expertise. When we try to preclude what they are doing by what we do in the budget, it won't work. We will also hear about something that marries the numbers our budget resolution carries with the work our committees and Congress can do once the budget is passed. The statutory deadline for passing the budget is April 15. Just prior to that, we are going to have a 2-week recess, which shortens the amount of time we have to work. I would remind everybody that Republicans have only been in charge for a few weeks and are going to pass the first budget in 6 years. That is a pretty fast track to be on, but I am pleased with where we are at the moment. Later on this morning, the Senate will consider an amendment to help improve care for children with medical complexity within Medicaid. Children with medical complexity require intensive health care services. These children often have two or more serious chronic conditions, and often see six or more specialists and a dozen or more physicians. They also often require care that takes them across State lines. There are 2 million of these children on Medicaid. Reflecting a bipartisan bill, Senator Portman intends to offer an amendment to create a reserve fund in anticipation of committee action that recognizes the critical importance of Medicaid to children with medical complexity, and the need for greater coordination and integration of care for this population within Medicaid. If Congress can write a bill that fits this reserve fund, then we can benefit children with medical complexity and their families. I look forward to a good debate and several votes in the Senate today. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. ENZI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the time until 12 noon today be equally divided between the managers or their designees; that at 12 noon, the Senate vote in relation to the following amendments in the order listed, with no second-degree amendments in order prior to the votes: Sanders No. 323, as modified, Sanders No. 386, and Portman No. 349, with 2 minutes of debate equally divided before each vote; and that following the votes, the Senate recess under the previous order. I further ask that the time from 2:15 p.m. to 3 p.m. be under the control of the minority and that the time from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. be under the control of the majority.

Mr. ENZI. For the information of all Senators, there will be three rollcall votes at 12 noon today, with an additional stack of votes expected at 4:30 p.m. today. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. ENZI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that even though we had an agreement for time to be equally divided--yesterday, we passed one that said whenever we are in a quorum call, the time would be equally divided--I hope that would continue through all these quorum calls, and so I ask unanimous consent that be the case.

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

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the votes following the first vote in the series be 10 minutes in length.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments and support for the Portman amendment. I want you to know I support the Sanders amendment. We support pregnant women and kids who are hurt in car accidents or face other unfortunate circumstances. So we would be happy to take this by voice vote.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.