Michael Enzi

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. Madam President, I urge my colleagues to vote no on the Mikulski amendment. The specificity of it makes it corrosive to the privilege of the budget. The budget resolution is focused on expanding economic growth, and that growth comes from new jobs--over 1 million jobs, according to the CBO, if our budget takes full effect. As the economy grows, putting more people to work is our best strategy to increase pay for women and men. We all want women and men to earn equivalent pay for the same job at the same firm. That is why Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits discrimination in pay on the basis of gender for substantially similar work. Congress also passed Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act to prohibit businesses from discriminating on the basis of sex. These laws empower women to demand equal pay, and they have. The gap has been narrowing. I ask Senators to vote no on this amendment because of its specificity. It is corrosive to the privilege of the budget.

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

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I know all my colleagues are committed to preserving Social Security. We all want Social Security to be there for today's and tomorrow's seniors. However, the Wyden amendment is not germane to the budget resolution. The Finance Committee has jurisdiction over the Social Security program, both its benefits and finance structure. The Budget Committee has no purview over the Social Security program. Moreover, the Wyden amendment instructs the Finance Committee how to write the legislation--language that is inappropriate for a budget resolution. In fact, it is corrosive. It damages the privilege of the budget. For this reason, I am compelled, as chairman of the Budget Committee, to raise a point of order against the Wyden amendment. I make a point of order that this amendment violates section 305(b)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up Kirk amendment No. 545.

Mr. ENZI. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time until 4:40 p.m. today be equally divided between the managers or their designees and that at 4:40 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: Sanders amendment No. 474, a side-by-side to the Ayotte amendment; Ayotte amendment No. 400 on vets; Fischer amendment No. 409, a side-by-side to the Mikulski amendment; Mikulski amendment No. 362 on equal pay; a Hatch amendment, the text of which is at the desk; Wyden amendment No. 471 on Social Security; and Cornyn amendment No. 357, the President's budget. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes of debate 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. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, there will be up to four rollcall votes at 4:40 p.m. I yield the floor.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I yield 2 minutes to the Senator from Arkansas.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up the Hatch amendment No. 498.

Mr. ENZI. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. ENZI

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

Mr. ENZI. Madam President, I get a little upset when I hear one side say that the other side doesn't care about infrastructure. That is not true. We even had a colloquy just a little while ago where the two sides said we need infrastructure. I agree that we need infrastructure, but I will oppose this amendment because it is telling the tax committee exactly what to do to provide infrastructure. One committee is getting into another committee's jurisdiction to say exactly how to do it, and that is not right. That is not the way we handle legislation around here. Senator Wyden is on the tax committee. He is the ranking member on that committee. Senator Hatch is the chairman of that committee. They are both concerned about infrastructure. There is already a provision in the bill that allows for the money to be put into place to do it, but that provision does not tell the Finance Committee that it must plug a certain tax loophole and put it into infrastructure. The committee can do that, and the President's budget--one of the reasons there is some excitement here--on money that is held overseas by companies, puts a mandatory 14 percent tax on that and expects it to be brought back right away to fund these things. That is a proposal that has been in the tax committee before--but not at 14 percent. It has been at a lower rate. Fourteen percent is more money than both the highway committee and the defense committee are talking about. We cannot produce a budget in which we tell committees exactly how to do their work. We need to build in the flexibility so they can do their job. The chairman of the committee is convinced that we can do the job of fixing our infrastructure. Of course, we will never fix the infrastructure as well as we would like to have it fixed. I think the ranking member on the Budget Committee mentioned that we have four times as much need as what his proposal addresses. He has a proposal for $468 billion. There is a couple trillion dollars' worth of need out there. Of course, we hope we can get a lot of people involved in fixing these problems. It is not just a Federal problem. It is a local and State problem as well. We hope everybody will participate so that we can improve the infrastructure. It does put people to work, just as Keystone would put people to work. I ask that my colleagues vote against the bill because we are telling one committee exactly where to get the money for another committee. I yield the floor and reserve the remainder of our time. Madam President, I yield the balance of our time for the Senator from Oklahoma.

Mr. ENZI

Mr. ENZI. 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 March 24, 2015, at 10 a.m., in room SD-106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Waters of the United States: Stakeholder Perspectives on the Impacts of EPA's Proposed Rule.''

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 24, 2015, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 24, 2015, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Examining the Regulatory Regime for Regional Banks.''

Mr. ENZI. 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 March 24, 2015, at 10 a.m., in room SR-253 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a Subcommittee hearing entitled ``Surface Transportation Reauthorization: Performance, not Prescription.''

Mr. ENZI. 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 March 24, 2015, at 2:30 p.m., in room SR- 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a Subcommittee hearing entitled ``Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Key Considerations Regarding Safety, Innovation, Economic Impact, and Privacy.''

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 24, 2015, at 10 a.m., in room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. ENZI. 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 on March 24, 2015, at 10 a.m., in room SD-430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled ``Continuing America's Leadership: Advancing Research and Development for Patients.''

Mr. ENZI. 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 March 24, 2015, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Securing the Border: Assessing the Impact of Transnational Crime.''

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 24, 2015, at 10 a.m., in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Nominations.''

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 24, 2015, at 2:30 p.m. in room SR-418 of the Russell Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Veterans Choice Act--Exploring the Distance Criteria.''

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 24, 2015, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 24, 2015, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Capital Formation and Reducing Small Business Burdens.''