E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 111 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 155 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009 No. 42 Senate The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was appoint the Honorable JEANNE SHAHEEN, a OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS called to order by the Honorable Senator from the State of New Hampshire, Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, JEANNE SHAHEEN, a Senator from the to perform the duties of the Chair. the bill the Senate will vote on later State of New Hampshire. ROBERT C. BYRD, President pro tempore. today represents a missed opportunity. PRAYER Mrs. SHAHEEN thereupon assumed In the midst of a serious economic The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- the chair as Acting President pro tem- downturn, the Senate had a chance to fered the following prayer: pore. show it could impose the same kind of restraint on itself that millions of Let us pray. f Almighty God, eternal and unchange- Americans are being forced to impose able, shine Your light upon our path as RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY on themselves at the moment. The bill we work today. Lord, You have led LEADER costs far too much for a government America through troubled times in the that should be watching every dime. If The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- past. Be now to our lawmakers a the President is looking for a first bill pore. The majority leader is recog- source of life, light, and wisdom. Give to veto, this is it. nized. them the wisdom to follow Your light The original version of the bill and to trust You, finding their strength f showed no recognition whatsoever of in Your presence. Teach them what the current economic climate. With they should think and do, so they will SCHEDULE the stock market plunging, unemploy- not stumble along the way. Replace Mr. REID. Madam President, fol- ment at a 25-year high, and millions fear with faith in You and one another, lowing leader remarks, the Senate will struggling to pay their mortgages, the as You remove from their lives the resume consideration of H.R. 1105, the bill sent over from the House included things that thwart the doing of Your appropriations bill. The Senate will re- an across-the-board 8-percent increase will. cess from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for in spending over last year. That is And, Lord, bless today our military the weekly caucus luncheons. All the twice the rate of inflation. men and women in harm’s way. Protect amendments are before the Senate. We Republicans in the Senate tried to them from danger and sustain their have seven of them. It is expected that cut the bill’s cost. Our ideas would loved ones. probably five of them will require have saved billions of taxpayer dollars. We pray in Your holy Name. Amen. votes. So I hope Senators would come Unfortunately, every single effort was f and debate their amendments. We have turned aside. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE a number of Democrats who are want- The senior Senator from Arizona pro- ing to speak in opposition to the posed an amendment that would have The Honorable JEANNE SHAHEEN led amendments. the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: held spending in the omnibus at last I will be discussing a time to begin year’s level. The senior Senator from I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the voting with the distinguished Repub- United States of America, and to the Repub- Texas offered an amendment that lic for which it stands, one nation under God, lican leader. What we are going to do is would have cut spending on the 122 pro- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. have stacked votes, and finish the grams that were already funded in the votes once we start them. I hope we f stimulus bill—the so-called double dip- can do that sometime late afternoon. I ping that many of us warned would APPOINTMENT OF ACTING do not think there are any events take place if Congress moved the stim- PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE going on off the Hill that would pre- ulus before the omnibus. Remarkably, The PRESIDING OFFICER. The vent us from doing that. But I will be even that was too much for some. The clerk will please read a communication working with Senator MCCONNELL to junior Senator from Oklahoma pro- to the Senate from the President pro see what we can do in arranging an ap- posed an amendment that would have tempore (Mr. BYRD). propriate time to start the votes. cut projects that benefited a lobbying The legislative clerk read the fol- f firm under Federal investigation. That lowing letter: too was rejected. U.S. SENATE, RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY These Republican ideas were sensible, PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, LEADER commonsense ways to cut spending. Washington, DC, March 10, 2009. To the Senate: The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Unfortunately, the majority did not Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, pore. The Republican leader is recog- like any of them. This would have been of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby nized. irresponsible in good economic times. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S2919 . VerDate Nov 24 2008 23:35 Mar 10, 2009 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A10MR6.000 S10MRPT1 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with SENATE S2920 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 10, 2009 At this moment, this total unwilling- not matter what it is, they are oppos- these Government agencies that had ness to cut a single dollar from this bill ing it. And I think that is basically been, over the Bush years, so under- is simply indefensible. what we have here today with Senator funded, underresourced that we had— Just as troubling as the lack of re- MCCONNELL. I mean, I cannot imagine because of the 8 years of neglect—to in- straint is a provision to literally shut how he could stand before this body, crease spending for these Government down the DC Opportunity Scholarship after having talked favorably of this agencies so they can do their job. I met Program which helped 1,700 students in bill in the past—and his statements yesterday with new Secretary of the the District of Columbia attend private have been read in the RECORD on pre- Interior Ken Salazar. He is lamenting schools last year at a fraction of what vious occasions about how much he be- how the parks in our country are in the city spends per pupil on public edu- lieved in this omnibus bill. In fact, he such bad shape, terrible shape. The cation. This program is clearly—clear- said—and I am paraphrasing—that Mall out here, because the Republicans ly—popular among parents, since the there had been input by Democrats and complained about the money for the city receives four applications for Republicans, it had been fully vetted. Mall—there was a major feature on all every available slot. Yet our friends on But suddenly—using the David Brooks public radio stations yesterday about the other side will reject an amend- theory of Government—they are op- the Mall, what terrible shape this Mall ment to preserve it. posed to everything. is in. It is used. It is an American land- On this issue, it is incredibly difficult It is not helping the Republicans mark. But they do not want money to see how the majority can match around this country. You have to be in spent on that. their rhetoric with their actions. It favor of something. And for my friend, When I read David Brooks this morn- should be unthinkable to terminate a the senior Senator from Kentucky, to ing, I thought: Gee whiz, he has an un- program aimed at giving inner-city stand before this body and lament the derstanding of what is wrong with the students the same educational opportu- deficits—‘‘this spending that has to Republican Party. And no one more nities that middle-class or affluent stu- stop’’—where were they during the 8 than a Republican can probably say it dents enjoy. years of the red ink of George Bush? as strongly as he did. David Brooks—I Republicans tried to improve the om- The biggest deficits in the history of have told him how on a number of oc- this country are all held by George nibus with commonsense proposals casions I disagree with his end line, but Bush: the unending spending on the that Americans support. The junior his reasoning is always brilliant, as it Iraq war, not putting that in the budg- Senator from Arizona proposed an was today. et in an effort to hide it from the amendment that would have required f the Secretary of State to certify that American people—how much it cost— none of the funds made available for re- the tax cuts that were never big RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME construction efforts in Gaza are di- enough for the Republicans that ran us The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- verted either to Hamas or to entities into this deep hole President Obama pore. Under the previous order, the controlled by Hamas. The junior Sen- has inherited. leadership time is reserved. So everyone should read David ator from South Dakota offered an Brooks. Let’s have the Republicans f amendment that prohibits the use of start being in favor of something.