Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012--Conference Report

Floor Speech

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Mr. ALEXANDER. This issue is of particular importance to me as well. I strongly object to the language included in the Interior Appropriations bill regarding Boiler MACT. The Boiler MACT is an unworkable regulation that will reduce pollutants like mercury, which is good policy, but forces those reductions in a way that is not realistic for companies to comply. This regulation could result in the loss of 340,000 jobs nationwide and cost Tennessee companies $530 million. My support for the Omnibus bill does not change my position on this issue, and I will continue to push for the passage of strong bipartisan legislation that will overturn the terrible Boiler MACT regulation and find a better way to accomplish the pollution reductions that are needed. I thank Senator Collins for her leadership on this issue and I also appreciate the Senator from Alaska clarifying the intent of this language.

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Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, this omnibus appropriations bill funds the Federal Government through September 30, 2012, at the level of spending agreed to this past August in the Budget Control Act, which reduces overall spending by $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years.

If Congress continues to follow the terms of the Budget Control Act, discretionary spending--which is 39 percent of the Federal budget--will increase at about the rate of inflation over the next nine years.

Unfortunately, mandatory entitlement spending--which is 55 percent of the Federal budget--is out of control and is growing at the rate of 3 to 4 times inflation over the next 9 years according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

There are some good reasons to support this spending bill.

One good reason to support the bill is to support House Republicans. Now that they are in the majority, they are changing the priorities of the spending bills in important places, and that is a good start at reducing spending and changing the priorities of the government.

Another good reason is that the bill is consistent with the Budget Control Act. The Omnibus brings total discretionary spending to $1.043 trillion, and it brings total disaster spending to $10.4 billion. Both of those figures are consistent with the Budget Control Act and are a good first step toward getting discretionary spending under control over the next decade.

The bill also supports several important national priorities: It provides an additional $5.1 billion for defense and a $338 million increase for nuclear weapons modernization; increases border security; fully funds veterans' healthcare; and shows Congress can lead by example by cutting our own budget by 5.2 percent.

The bill denies the administration carte blanche on running the government and allows Congress to set priorities as it should in our constitutional system. The omnibus cuts the Environmental Protection Agency's budget by $233 million, cuts the National Labor Relations Board's budget by $4 million, and supports the development of Small Modular Reactors.

This year there have been 12 disasters that caused more than $1 billion in damage--the highest on record. Families are struggling to recover from historic tornado outbreaks, flooding, wildfires, and other natural disasters in virtually every part of the country.

The omnibus brings total disaster spending for fiscal year 2012 to $10.4 billion. The Budget Control Act allows Congress to spend up to an additional $11.3 billion in fiscal year 2012 for disasters. Although this means there is only $900 million left to address any additional disasters in fiscal year 2012, it shows that Congress is starting to take the issue of spending and debt seriously by living within an agreed upon framework for total spending.

Even though the Budget Control Act does not require disaster spending to be offset--some argue that it should be--the Budget Control Act ensures disaster spending is really for disasters and keeps Congress from spending more than the historical average. The House has proposed to offset this spending with a 1.83 percent across-the-board cut to all discretionary spending, excluding defense programs, military construction projects and veterans funding.

I do not believe that an across-the-board cut is a wise way to reduce spending. Congress should identify wasteful spending, like the credit loan subsidies we eliminated in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill, and find specific ways to cut spending and make government more effective.

Any bill of this size will include things we don't support. We do not do enough to reduce duplicative programs, and many programs that should be eliminated are still funded.

But there is one provision in the manager's report that I really want to take exception to.

I strongly object to the language included in the Interior Appropriations bill regarding Boiler MACT. The Boiler MACT is a regulation that will reduce pollutants like mercury, which is a good goal, but forces reductions in a way that is not realistic for companies to comply. This unworkable regulation could result in the loss of 340,000 jobs nationwide and cost Tennessee companies $530 million.

My support for the omnibus bill does not change my position on this issue, and I will continue to push for the passage of strong bipartisan legislation that will overturn the terrible Boiler MACT regulation and find a better way to accomplish the pollution reductions that are needed.

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