E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 108 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 150 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2004 No. 31—Part II Senate CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR percent increase. It is a big tax in- Kyl Nickles Specter Lott Roberts Stevens THE UNITED STATES GOVERN- crease. It is a humongous spending in- Lugar Santorum Sununu MENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005— crease. I urge my colleagues to vote no. McCain Sessions Talent Continued Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask McConnell Shelby Thomas for the yeas and nays. Miller Smith Voinovich Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise Murkowski Snowe Warner today in support of this important The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a NOT VOTING—4 amendment offered by Senator TOM sufficient second? Edwards Kerry DASCHLE. The Senate Committee on In- There appears to be a sufficient sec- Johnson Reid dian Affairs, of which I am a member, ond. has held hearings on the President’s The question is on agreeing to The amendment (No. 2774) was re- fiscal year 2005 budget request for In- amendment No. 2774. The clerk will jected. dian programs. We have heard from In- call the roll. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- dian country about the inadequate The assistant journal clerk called the ator from Oklahoma. funding provided for many programs in roll. Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, we are Indian country. We have heard that Mr. DASCHLE. I announce that the making progress. Senator CONRAD and I American Indians and Alaska Natives Senator from North Carolina (Mr. ED- are reducing the amendments pretty have a life expectancy six years less WARDS), the Senator from South Da- quickly. I compliment him for that. We than that of the rest of the United kota (Mr. JOHNSON), and the Senator are trying to accommodate Members States population, with rates of cardio- from Massachusetts (Mr. KERRY) are on both sides of the aisle. Maybe we vascular disease being twice as high for necessarily absent. can get this legislation finished to- native peoples. I also announce that the Senator night. I believe the Senator from Alaska Native people die at a rate 500 per- from Nevada (Mr. REID) is absent at- cent higher than other Americans from tending a funeral. has an amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- tuberculosis and 390 percent higher The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there ator from Alaska. from diabetes. With the technological any other Senators in the Chamber de- advancements that we have made in siring to vote? AMENDMENT NO. 2822 these areas, most of these illnesses The result was announced—yeas 42, Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I could be prevented if basic health care nays 54, as follows: send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration. were available. Unfortunately, the [Rollcall Vote No. 52 Leg.] The PRESIDING OFFICER. The President’s budget provides $2.1 billion YEAS—42 for IHS clinical services, leaving a clerk will report. Akaka Dorgan Levin shortfall of over 60 percent for fiscal The assistant legislative clerk read Bayh Durbin Lieberman as follows: year 2005. Biden Feingold Lincoln The time is now and we must provide Bingaman Feinstein Mikulski The Senator from Alaska [Ms. MUR- Indian country with the ability to en- Boxer Graham (FL) Murray KOWSKI], for herself and Mr. CAMPBELL, pro- Breaux Harkin Nelson (FL) poses an amendment numbered 2822. sure that native peoples are given ac- Byrd Hollings Nelson (NE) cess to essential health care services. I Cantwell Inouye Pryor Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to support this im- Clinton Jeffords Reed ask unanimous consent that the read- Conrad Kennedy Rockefeller ing of the amendment be dispensed portant amendment, and I thank my Corzine Kohl Sarbanes dear friend, Senator DASCHLE, for offer- Daschle Landrieu Schumer with. ing this amendment. Dayton Lautenberg Stabenow The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Dodd Leahy Wyden objection, it is so ordered. ator from Oklahoma. NAYS—54 The amendment is as follows: Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, this is Alexander Chafee Ensign (Purpose: To increase funding for the Indian another one of these amendments—we Allard Chambliss Enzi Health Services) have had a dozen of them now—that Allen Cochran Fitzgerald On page 16, line 12, increase the amount by Baucus Coleman Frist $282,000,000. says we are going to pay for this by in- Bennett Collins Graham (SC) creasing taxes on wealthy people. I On page 16, line 13, increase the amount by Bond Cornyn Grassley $251,000,000. Brownback Craig Gregg don’t know how many times we have to On page 16, line 17, increase the amount by vote on it. Then I look at the spending. Bunning Crapo Hagel Burns DeWine Hatch $28,000,000. It says we will increase spending by Campbell Dole Hutchison On page 16, line 21, increase the amount by $3.4 billion from 2.1 to 5.5. That is a 164- Carper Domenici Inhofe $2,000,000. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S2651 . VerDate jul 14 2003 01:22 Mar 13, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G11MR6.163 S11PT2 S2652 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 11, 2004 On page 23, line 5, decrease the amount by propriations Committee—specifically penny to the IHS clinical services ac- $282,000,000. the Interior Appropriations Sub- count. On page 23, line 6, decrease the amount by committee—it will be next to impos- Will the phantom money be there $251,000,000. On page 23, line 10, decrease the amount by sible to increase Indian health funding after the House and Senate Repub- $28,000,000. to any significant degree. licans return from conference? It cer- On page 23, line 14, decrease the amount by I hope my colleagues will stop and tainly was not last year. $2,000,000. think about the weight of the decisions That money was missing from the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- they are making today. Because its fiscal year 2004 Interior appropriations ator from Alaska. budget is so woefully inadequate, the bill, too, when 45 Republican senators Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, Indian Health Service is forced to use a blocked my amendment to make real this amendment also relates to the In- literal ‘‘life or limb’’ standard to ration their professed $292 million commit- dian Health Service. This amendment health care for Indian men, women, ment to Indian health. would increase the budget for the In- and children—people whose health care Yet again, my colleagues on the dian Health Service by $282 million. is supposed to be guaranteed. Indian other side are making a specious argu- This is intended to track the rec- people are suffering—some are literally ment. At the same time they’re refus- ommendation that the Indian Affairs dying—because we are failing to pro- ing to close loopholes that allow people Committee sent to the Budget Com- vide them the kind of care that most who owe taxes to avoid paying their mittee in its views and estimates let- Americans, and every single one of us, fair share, at the same time they are ter. take for granted. proposing new tax cuts for million- It provides the funding for those pri- We have been here before. We had aires, they are saying this country can- orities that were set out in the com- this same debate last year. Then, like not afford to honor its treaty obliga- mittee’s list. We are looking at in- today, my Republican colleagues op- tion—and its clear moral obligation— creases for clinical services, a 50-per- posed a real increase for IHS clinical to Native Americans. cent increase for services to urban In- services and instead offered a phantom I hope the Senate will reject that ar- dians, a $90 million increase for con- increase that was one-tenth of the gument and put us on the road to tract support costs and an additional amount of the increase needed to meet righting this indefensible wrong. $61 million for health facilities con- the basic health care needs of the cur- Senators can vote for this amend- struction. This amendment would rent IHS user population. ment, but no one should be confused make all of these increases possible. The only difference this year is that about its impact. I can assure you that Of particular interest to me, the the ‘‘increase’’ they are offering is less Native Americans will not be. Still, I amendment enables an additional $10 than one-tenth of the amount of the in- will support this amendment with the million increase in funding for sanita- crease needed to meet the basic health hope that the conferees will find a way tion facilities construction, which is care needs of the current IHS user pop- to provide a real increase for the In- incredibly important to my home ulation, and even less than the amount dian Health Service. State. 40 percent of the unmet need for they offered last year. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there sanitation, as identified by the Indian Of course, any increase for the Indian further debate? If not, the question is Health Service, is in Alaska. Health Service is welcome. I will be on agreeing to amendment No. 2822. This amendment also envisions a glad if we can treat even one more In- The amendment (No. 2822) was agreed substantial funding increase for the dian child the way that he or she de- to.