Senator Byrd delivered the remarks below to the Senate shortly after the Majority Leader asked to pass the massive omnibus appropriations package without a roll call vote. After objection from Senator Daschle and Senator Byrd, the Majority Leader decided to put off a vote on the bill until next January.
Members of this Congress have a duty and a responsibility to the American people. The men and women who send us to represent them in this Capitol do not expect us to rubberstamp legislation; they do not expect us to cash our paychecks without doing the work. Senators are paid to be in the Capitol when votes are required. Today is such a day. Yet, few Senators are present.
The 1,182 page conference report before the Senate totals more than $328 billion. It provides funds for 11 of 15 federal departments. It wraps together the work of seven appropriations bills. This conference report funds our nation's schools and highways, veterans clinics, workplace safety initiatives, and medical research. It funds priorities that directly touch the lives of every American citizen. Yet, Members of this body do not have the time or the will to debate and vote on it? Instead of a roll call vote, the Majority Leader sought unanimous consent to take up and pass this legislation by voice. This is one voice that said no.
Senators may have travel plans or schedule conflicts. They may prefer be in their home states or traveling around the globe rather than be here in the Capitol. But our responsibility is here in this chamber. Our responsibility is to work, to debate and vote on this conference report. We should not have postponed this until next year. We should not have put this off for several weeks. There is no good excuse for putting this debate on hold.
I understand the reluctance of the Majority Leader. The Leadership worries that there may not be enough votes to pass the conference report and send it to the White House. But we will not know until we vote.
Make no mistake, there are many problems with this conference report. Contracting out federal jobs. Stripping employees of bipartisan job protections. Voiding an effort to protect overtime protections established by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, taking away the right of as many as 8 million employees to earn time and a half for extra hours worked. Last minute, closed-door changes would postpone "country of origin" labeling on meat and vegetables, robbing Americans from knowing where their food was grown for two years and breaking the balance crafted as part of the 2002 Farm Bill. The one-year limitation on the FCC media ownership rule was turned into a permanent cap at 39%. The practical effect of changes demanded by the White House is to protect Rupert Murdoch's Fox television network and CBS-Viacom from having to comply with the lower 35% ownership caps the congressional version of the bill would put in place. The White House is boosting special corporate interests at the expense of the people's interest for balanced news and information.
One could go on for quite some time ticking off the problems in this conference report -- problems dictated to Congress by the Bush White House.
There are many provisions within this package that never came before the Senate, yet Senators were asked to approve this bill by consent. Can you imagine, $328 billion and not even a recorded vote? Four of the bills contained in this omnibus did not have a recorded vote in the Senate. One of the bills, the Commerce/Justice/State bill, was never even debated in the Senate, let alone adopted. Scores of provisions are included in the so-called Miscellaneous Appropriations Act portion of the Conference Report that were never debated in the House or Senate. Under pressure from the White House, provisions that were approved by both the House and the Senate have been dropped. Under pressure from the White House, controversial provisions that were written as one-year limitations when they were before the House or Senate have mutated into permanent changes in authorization law.
In fact, the Majority Leadership created a new appropriations authority -- the Miscellaneous Appropriations Act. That's a new one on me. There are 13 appropriations subcommittees, but I have yet to meet the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Miscellaneous Appropriations.
That section, whatever its genesis, is home to Administration pet projects and priorities. Scores of provisions are included in the so-called Miscellaneous Appropriations umbrella that were never debated in the House or Senate. Under direct pressure from the White House, provisions approved previously by both the House and the Senate have been dropped. Under pressure from the White House, controversial provisions originally crafted by the House or Senate as one-year limitations have mutated into permanent changes in authorization law.
This conference report includes an across-the-board cut never debated in the Senate, an arbitrary cut that would apply to legislation already signed into law. It would cut homeland security. It would cut counterterrorism efforts. It would cut education and health care. This across-the-board cut would reach back into bills signed months ago and say, "No, sorry, but that is just too much money."
Apparently, in the view of the White House, the United States can afford $1.7 trillion of tax cuts. When it comes to the Medicare bill, we can afford $12 billion for subsidies for private insurance companies. When it comes to the Energy bill, we can afford over $25 billion of tax cuts and $5 billion of mandatory spending for big energy corporations. But when it comes to initiatives funded in these appropriations bills, initiatives that help Americans every day, the President insists -- cut, cut, cut! A cut of 0.59 percent would reduce funding for No Child Left Behind programs by more than $73 million, resulting in 24,000 fewer children being served by Title I. Overall, the Title I Education for the Disadvantaged program would be $6 billion below the level authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act that the President signed in January of 2002. Another promise unfulfilled.
The across-the-board cut would reduce Head Start funding by $40 million, resulting in 5,500 fewer kids attending Head Start. Veterans medical care funding would be cut by $159 million, resulting in 26,500 fewer veterans receiving medical care or 198,000 veterans not getting the prescription drugs that they need.
The across-the-board cut will chop funding for homeland security initiatives. How many more baggage screener will be laid off, resulting in longer lines and less security at our airports? How many fewer flights will have air marshals on board? How many more containers will come into this country uninspected? How many more illegal aliens will be able to remain in this country or how many will be able to sneak into this country? How many potential terrorists will never be investigated because of cuts in the FBI?
All this, and the Majority Leader sought consent to approve this package without a roll call vote. Mr. President, that is no way to legislate. That is no way to be accountable to the American people.
Taxpayers rightly expect Senators to be accountable for funds drawn out of the Federal Treasury. How can Members be accountable when they are scattered to the four winds across the globe? What kind of perversion of the appropriations process would result in Senators approving this monstrosity without a recorded vote? When Members took their Oath of Office, they pledged to uphold the Constitution and to faithfully discharge the duties of the Office. They did not pledge to do so when it was convenient or when their schedule permits it. The House of Representatives saw fit to return to vote on this conference report. Why, then, can the Senate not do the same? We are paid to work for 12 months each year, not 10.
Chairman Stevens and I worked with each Senator on the Appropriations Committee to produce 13 individual appropriations bills to send to the President. I commend the Senior Senator from Alaska for his effort. But, the process was hijacked by the White House and the Republican Congressional Leadership. Instead of sending 13 fiscally responsible appropriations bills to the President, the Senate was asked to close its eyes, cover its ears, and gag its mouth in order to rubberstamp an 1,182 page conference report, combining seven appropriations bills for 11 of the 15 departments of the Federal government on an unrecorded voice vote, with only a handful of Senators in the chamber. This would be legislating without accountability.
What is the use of having elections if the voters are prevented from knowing how their Senators voted on investing $328 billion of the people's money? This is wrong.
The people have a right to know how their elected representatives stand on this legislation, which will affect the lives of so many. I am saddened by the Majority Leader's decision to postpone a vote on this legislation until January 20. That is no way to govern. That is no way to serve the American people.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
