Tom Harkin

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Reserving my right to the floor, I will yield for a question.

Mr. HARKIN. Thank you. Mr. President, the figures we just heard from the Senator from Texas really are quite phony. They include all kinds of advanced funding and everything else to come to that figure that the Senator threw out on the 20 percent. But you have to ask yourself: Why are we facing this now? What the Senator from Texas is trying to do is to save one day. It is one day, I tell my friend from North Dakota. This provision was put in there not by me and not by the minority. It was put in there by Senator Stevens in order to allow us to do the legitimate work we have to do to meet the obligations we have in education and in health and NIH, and all of the other things in this bill which has pretty wide support. It wasn't us. The chairman of the Appropriations Committee put it in. The Senator from Texas--let's be clear about it--is moving the outlays for SSI paychecks from one day to the previous day--that is all he is doing--one day. But that one day will cause about a 6-percent across-the-board cut in NIH, cancer research, Alzheimer's research, education funding, Pell grants, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, IDEA, you name it--a 6-percent across-the-board cut because the Senator from Texas wants to move by one day the payment of SSI. He wants to move it to one day later. Last year, we moved it one day forward. He wants to move it to one day later. Who cares about one day? Why is it such a big deal to go from September 30 to October 1? But if it means that it allows us to move forward with this bill and to have the adequate funding in this bill when we go to conference, it means a lot. This really is a mischievous point of order because it really doesn't do anything. It doesn't save us any money. The money we will spend on SSI will either go out September 30 or it will go out October 1. It is going out. The Senator from Texas is not stopping that money. It is going to go out. It is either going to go out on one day or the next day. He is not saving a nickel. But by doing this, he is causing all kinds of problems on this bill. That is why I say it is just simply a mischievous motion. Of course, I support my colleague, the chairman, in the motion to waive. Hopefully, we will hear from Senator Stevens on this. But there is really no substance. I guess what I am trying to say is that there is no substance to the motion--none. You don't save a nickel. You don't help anybody. You don't hurt anybody. You just move the payment from one day to the next. That is all. But you sure hurt this bill.

Mr. HARKIN. My chairman is always ahead of me on these things--8.2 percent. If one looks at the increases we are making next year over this year, it comes to 8.2 percent, not 20 percent. I wanted to make the record clear. I yield the floor.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I reclaim the floor. I had yielded for a question. I hope we can get this clearance. I think we probably can move ahead. From what my distinguished chairman said, I hope that can happen in terms of reallocation and we can put this thing to bed. An objection to laying the motion to waive aside holds right now until we can get clearance on our side.

Mr. HARKIN. Is that not a debatable motion?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I believe the pending motion is the motion to waive the Budget Act. Is that not true?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, how much time remains?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I am glad to yield for a question.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I move to table the Landrieu amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: I just moved to table the Landrieu amendment, and the Chair advised me a motion had already been made to table. And I might ask, by whom was that made?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I will yield, without losing my right to the floor, for a question from my friend from Montana.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I will take a couple minutes. I heard the Senator from Texas talking about there is never enough. Of course, he just talked about Democrats on this side offering amendments to increase funding. I thought what is good for the goose is good for the gander. There are Senators on that side of the aisle who have amendments to increase spending in this bill: Senator Cochran, Senator Collins, Senator DeWine, Senator Inhofe, Senator Jeffords. Those are the only ones I have right now from their side that I know of who add money to the bill. It is not only Democrats; Republicans, too. There are some on that side of the aisle, as well as on this side of the aisle, who understand we have unmet needs in this country when it comes to dealing with education, health, human services, and research. I point out there is all this talk about how much this budget has increased. It all depends on how you look at it. It depends on your baseline. It depends on your numbers. The Senator from Texas probably knows that as well as anybody around here. So we can look at it a different way. Let's look at it this way, for example: Twenty years ago, the share of the dollar that went for elementary and secondary education in this country that came from the Federal Government was a little over 11 cents. In other words, 20 years ago, 11 cents out of every dollar that was put into elementary and secondary education came from the Federal Government. Today, that is down to 7 cents. We are going backwards. We put the burden on our property taxpayers around the country. It is an unfair tax, a tax that can be highly regressive, especially in an area where there are a lot of elderly people who may not be working and live on Social Security, but they still have to pay the property taxes. When one looks at it that way, one can say we are shirking our responsibility. If we had just kept up that 11-percent level for the last 20 years, we would not be having all these amendments. Second, the figures they are throwing out about a 20-percent increase is about as phony as the piece of paper it is written on because that takes into account a lot of things that are not figured into how much we are actually increasing programs. If one looks at the program increases--education and the other program increases--this year over last year, it comes in at a little over 9 percent, somewhere between 9 and 10 percent.

Mr. HARKIN. As the Senator knows, I supported that when he offered it.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, now I understand the Senator from Louisiana is here, and she wants a minute. I will make my motion to table after her minute.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield, I fully support him in that. At 11 o'clock, which is about 20 minutes from now, we hope to be informed of all amendments. I say to Senators on our side, please let us know, either through the Cloakroom or directly, because shortly after that, I will be joining with our chairman in propounding a unanimous consent request to make that a finite list.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Reserving the right to object, we have not seen a copy of the Frist amendment yet. I want to have it described or see a copy so we know to what we are agreeing. I do not think that is an unreasonable request.

Mr. HARKIN. Yes.

Mr. HARKIN. Inquiry: We are asking unanimous consent that following the Frist amendment, Senator Daschle be recognized for an amendment, Senator Ashcroft be recognized for an amendment, and then Senator Dorgan be recognized for an amendment?

Mr. HARKIN. I heard conflicting things about it, and I want to see how it is written.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, if I might ask the leader, so everyone knows, what we are facing are three recorded votes beginning at 7 o'clock; is that correct?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk on behalf of Senators Daschle, Murkowski, Johnson, Wyden, Murray, Harkin, and Reid of Nevada.