Senate Proceeding on Mar 2nd, 2009 :: 0:22:55 to 0:33:50
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0:22:52 to 0:23:13( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: colleagues to join me in supporting the passage of this measure. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent i may yield to the vice chairman of this committee with the understanding that i will hold the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. cochran: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from mr. cochran: mr. president,

0:22:55 to 0:33:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Thad Cochran

0:23:14 to 0:23:35( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: i'm pleased to join my friend, the distinguished senator from hawaii, in presenting the omnibus appropriations act to the senate. this bill contains the nine regular appropriations bills that have not been enacted and accounts for nearly half of all

0:23:36 to 0:23:56( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: regular discretionary spending for the 2009 fiscal year. i'm supporting t approval of this bill by the senate even though the process that has brought us to this point has left a lot to be desired. i also share with those on my side of the aisle the concerns

0:23:57 to 0:24:17( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: about the level of discretionary spending contained in this bill which is $20 billion over president bush's request. i voted against the budget resolution that established the discretionary spending allocations for this bill and i voted in favor of senator gregg's motion to instruct the

0:24:18 to 0:24:38( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: conferees on the budget resolution discretionary caps to more modest levels. that motion was defeated by one vote. and the conference report on the

0:24:39 to 0:25:00( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: budget resolution was adopted. i commend my distinguished friend from hawaii for resisting pressures to add controversial new policy matter to this bill. this is new legislation as opposed to a conference report and as such, any number of policy riders could have been

0:25:01 to 0:25:23( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: included in the bill. a few provisions such as language dealing with the endangered species act were included but largely the bill stays within the legislation represented by the house and senate bills. of the nine bills in this omnibus measure, none were ever

0:25:24 to 0:25:44( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: considered on the floors of the house or the senate. two of the bills were never marked up in the senate committee. and six of the bills were not marked up in the house committee. but can assure the senate that

0:25:45 to 0:26:05( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: ththe c before us is consistent with the program materials established by the individual house and senate bills even though some of those bills were neither presented formally to either body. previous omnibus bills have been comprised of individual bills reported by the house and senate

0:26:06 to 0:26:29( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: committees. and generally, of bills that were passd by at least one of the legislative bodies. the bill before us today is a new kind of legislative document. i hope we will not see replicated in the future. last

0:26:30 to 0:26:51( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: leadership made a conscious decision not t to bush on certain includes. and perhaps that decision had political benefits for some members but substantively it had detrimental impacts.

0:26:52 to 0:27:13( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: first of all, the moratorium on outer continental shelf oil and gas leasing has been removed from the interior appropriations bill. second, f the last six months, most federal agencies have been compelled to operate at funding levels very similar to those

0:27:14 to 0:27:36( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: they would have received had we simply enacted the individual bills in a form that president bush would have signed. today, we could be discussing the merits of supplemental appropriations if they had been need ratr than starting from scratch halfway through the fiscal year.

0:27:37 to 0:27:57( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: had we enacted appropriations bills last fall, acknowledges would have been carrying out their responsibilities with approved levels of funding, funding for buildings, for roads, for trays and water project -- for trails and wer projects would have provided jobs and would have

0:27:58 to 0:28:20( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: been obligated by now to the extent those activitiesight have helped stimulate the economy, they would have been very beneficial. instead, due to inaction by congress, agencies have been in a holding pattern for yearly half of the fiscal yearnd the terms of the

0:28:21 to 0:28:41( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: resolution. two wks ago congress sent to the president a huge stimulus bill. it contained some in appropriations for a variety of programs. we had a vigorous debate about the bill in the senate, and it

0:28:42 to 0:29:02( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: passed with the minimum number of votes required. i voted against the stimulus bill in part because the bill included large amounts of funding for programs that are not immediately stimulative, such as health information technology androadba deployment. these would have been more

0:29:03 to 0:29:23( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: appropriately considered in the context of a presidential budget and at the more measured pace of the annual appropriations process. we will be living with the impacts of these decisions made in the stimulus bill, all made in great has

0:29:24 to 0:29:45( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: come. it is fair to ask: to what degree does the omnibus bill duplicate the stimulus bill? there is no question that the order in which we are considering the stimulus and the omnibus is we should have used the stimulus

0:29:46 to 0:30:06( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: bill to supplement regular appropriations, not the other way around. there are a number of accounts and programs funded in this omnibus bill that are also funded in the stimulus bill. in most cases, the omnibus fds those programs at or near prior-year levels, and argue that the stimulus funding for those programs was a

0:30:07 to 0:30:28( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: deliberate supplement. in other cases, the omnibus funds the same accounts contained in the stimulus but for different purposes. and there are few programs in the omnibus that, quite frankly, ould have been scaled back based on the content of the stimulus bill.

0:30:29 to 0:30:49( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: so, despite the unconventional and unfortuna this bill was produced, it does represent a product that was fairly some would like us to enact a continuing resolution for the remainder of the year that holds

0:30:50 to 0:31:13( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: programs to their fy 2008 funding levels, thereby saving billions of d t knowing full-year continuing resolution would programs, i don't think the majorityould propose such a measure, and i don't think the president would sign it either. another possible outcome would

0:31:14 to 0:31:36( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: be a modified continuing resolution similar to that enacted for fiscal year 2007, something that would eliminate all directives and oversight mechanisms but spend no less money than we are currently considering. and surely there are other possible outcomes.

0:31:37 to 0:31:57( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: but in my view, continued uncertainty in the day-to-day operations of the federal government at a time of national cris is not worth and highly speculative gains that might come from defeating this bill. we now have received a

0:31:58 to 0:32:21( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: preliminary budget from the new president. in a few weeks we will be considering the budget resolution for fiscal year 2010. and we will be debating such things as appropriate discretionary spending levels. i look forward to that, as there is much in the president's budget request worth debating.

0:32:22 to 0:32:43( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: but it is time to put year 2009 budget to rest. i'm committed to do everything in my power not to repeat the dismal process that has brought us to this juncture, and i know that the chairman of the committee, the distinguished senator from hawaii, shares that commitment. neither of us wants to deny senators the opportunity to help

0:32:44 to 0:33:05( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: shape appropriations bills in the early process, early parts of the process through amendment and discussion of alternatives. neither of us wants to hide anything from the scrutiny of the legislative process, and neither of us wants members to have to pass judgment on

0:33:06 to 0:33:27( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: appropriations bills all at once rather than individually. i thank the distinguished senator from hawaii for the job he has done as chairman of the appropriations committee. he is leading the committee through a trying time, but he's

0:33:28 to 0:33:48( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: doing it in the very best sense of partisanship and establishing working relationships that will serve the interest of not only the united states senate, but of the american people. these are relationships that our committee can contribut to in the future, and i know they will under his leadership.

0:33:49 to 0:33:51( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: i look forward to continuing to