Tax Extenders Act of 2009
Floor Speech
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Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, anyone who has paid attention to the floor of the Senate for the last week knows what my amendments are about. I am offering Senators two ways to pay for this spending bill.
First of all, I would like to submit for the Record the CBO scoring of this current bill that is before us--both the scoring and the offsets. I ask unanimous consent that they be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record,
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Mr. BUNNING. The first amendment is to use unspent stimulus funds and the second is by shutting down unnecessary or duplicate Federal programs. In other words, I am saying we should use money we have already set aside that has not been spent or eliminate wasteful spending to pay for the benefits that are in this current bill.
Over the last few days, many Senators on the other side of the aisle have come to the floor and said unemployment benefits are the best form of stimulus available. They say the families who are getting those benefits turn around and spend the money immediately. Well, if that is true, I cannot think of a better use of the money from last year's so-called stimulus bill. Why leave that money sitting around unused in a government account somewhere when those funds could get into the hands of people who need them the most and will put them into the economy right away? What is so sacred about the stimulus bill that we should keep that money sitting around until it can be spent later this year or next year or even in 2012 and beyond? Why not help the people now?
But for the Senators who think the stimulus money is so sacred that it cannot be touched, I am proposing another way to pay for this bill. Senator Coburn, my colleague from Oklahoma, has identified well more than $120 billion worth of savings from waste, fraud, and abuse. These savings include closing the Federal employee tax gap; that is, making sure all Federal employees pay all the taxes they owe, and stopping the payment of benefits to people and companies that are not entitled to those benefits.
The amendment would also be paid for by ending Federal programs that are no longer needed or duplicates of other government programs and making existing programs run more efficiently. I think the President's budget itself has hit on many of those programs he would like to see eliminated or partially eliminated. I think it is safe to call that wasteful spending, and I think the taxpayers who are footing the bill for those programs would agree.
Families all across America have to tighten their budgets when times get tough, and government should do the same. That is all I am trying to do with these two amendments.
I am sure some will accuse me of being against the programs in this bill. But the record should be clear by now that I support helping people in their time of need. In fact, every Member of the Senate who was able to make the votes last night supported extension of those benefits, either in my pay-for version or in the version that added to the debt. My amendments are not about whether we should extend these programs. No. My amendments are about whether we should pay for extending these programs or whether we should keep piling more debt on top of the $14 trillion-plus debt we have already. I think the answer is very clear.
Last night, I thought we had a deal worked out to give me an up-or-down vote on my amendment to pay for the short-term extender bill. Instead, one Senator raised a budget point of order against the amendment, and I expect someone will try to do the same thing today with my amendments. That was her right as a Senator, but it is certainly not within the spirit of the agreement I tried to reach to find a way forward on these important programs.
But I think the larger question raised by that move is, What are the 53 Senators who voted to block my amendment afraid of? Are they afraid the Senate might pay for something we do? Are they afraid we might take a step toward balancing the Federal budget? Are they afraid we will bring Washington spending, which is out of control, just a little bit under control and live under the same rules as ordinary American families?
Is it too much to ask that we pay for what we spend? Last night, 53 Senators said yes, it is too much to ask for. But I think it is not. Today, every Senator will have an opportunity to join me in saying it is not too much to ask or they can vote against my amendments and add another $100 billion-plus to the national debt. That is the emergency spending in this present bill--over $100 billion. So that goes onto the bottom line of the Federal debt.
I urge every Senator to vote for my amendments to pay for this spending, to put away the taxpayers' credit card, and to put an end to the debt madness. I have examples of those spending rescissions.
As an example, there is $245 million from congressional office budgets, to end some of the perks congressional leadership and congressional offices have; to end the Forest Service Economic Action Program, $5 million. I think the President put this in his budget. The program duplicates an existing USDA program--Urban and Community Forestry--that has been poorly managed.
Another is to end the Public Telecommunications Facilities Grant Program, $18 million. I am positive this was in the President's budget. This program is intended to help public broadcasting stations construct telecom facilities. Since the transition to digital broadcasting has been completed, there is no more need for this program.
On down the line--end HUD's Brownfields Economic Development Initiative, $17 million; reduce the historic preservation services within the Interior Department by $55 million. This is a grant program duplicated by other programs at the Interior Department.
This is one I am very familiar with because when I was in the House, we thought this was a necessary program to put our economic footing on foreign soil, the same as other foreign-based companies did when they came to America. End the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, $52 million. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation loans private U.S. companies funding for foreign investments and insurance. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency does the very same thing.
Another is to eliminate $28 million in the Department of Transportation that has been directed at transportation museums--museums. I do not think we should be building new museums with Department of Transportation funds. I think we should be building roads.
Those are just a few examples of some of the rescissions I would like to see in the second amendment I have offered today. I think there will be ample time to discuss these later on, but I wanted to make sure we offered these amendments early on so we could have a good and thorough debate on these programs as this bill proceeds through the Senate.
I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.
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Mr. BUNNING. Thank you, Mr. President.
Amendment No. 3360 is simple. It contains all of the extensions in the Baucus substitute, but rather than adding over $100 billion in cost to the deficit and debt, which the Baucus substitute does, my amendment pays for the spending in this bill by rescinding unspent stimulus funding.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have stated repeatedly that CBO considers money spent on extending unemployment benefits to be one of the best kinds of stimulus because the people who receive it are likely to immediately spend it. So let's redirect money from an ineffective stimulus bill in which some of the funding won't be spent until fiscal year 2013 or beyond. Let's stimulate the economy now and prevent a massive increase in the debt at the same time.
I am having a hard time understanding why some Senators believe stimulus funding is so sacred. Was the stimulus brought down from the mountaintop by Moses? If that is the case, why did the majority raid stimulus money to pay for an extension of cash for clunkers?
I will be the first to admit that neither side of the aisle has clean hands when it comes to out-of-control spending. We can't control what was done in the past, but we can control what happens today. It is time to take a stand--a stand for our children and grandchildren so they won't have to pay back trillions more in debt.
I am tired of China holding the mortgage on our country. I am tired of the massive national debt that will be doubled in 5 years and tripled in 10. It is hard for me to look my grandchildren in the eye when I know this generation is handing them a country where they won't have the same opportunities to succeed and prosper as I did. It has to stop.
I urge my colleagues to support my amendment, and I yield the floor.
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Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, let me briefly describe my amendment No. 3361. Like other amendments, this amendment contains all the extensions in the Baucus substitute, and it also completely pays for that spending. But it provides a different alternative for paying for it: eliminating wasteful and duplicative government programs.
Many of these programs are the ones President Obama has recommended terminating, and others have been highlighted by the CBO and the Congressional Research Service as wasteful.
I thank Senator Coburn publicly for the good work he has done compiling this list of programs.
We voted on a similar spending reduction when the Senate passed a record $1.9 trillion increase in the debt limit to $14.3 trillion. I hope we have a different outcome today. I hope my colleagues will not choose bloated bureaucracy over our children and grandchildren. They will face over $100 billion more in debt and compounding interest on the debt if we do not pay for this bill. Enough is enough.
If we cannot find the money to pay for programs, we ought to make the hard choices to reduce the deficit and debt.
I hope my colleagues will make the right choice today and support my amendment.
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