Senate Proceeding on Jul 27th, 2009 :: 1:31:25 to 1:42:05
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1:31:21 to 1:31:42( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: provide v dividends for the country in the mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. bennett: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. bennett: mr. president, i appreciate the remarks of my chairman, senator dorgan, and even more, i appreciate the hard work that he's put in and the level of

1:31:25 to 1:42:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Robert Bennett

1:31:43 to 1:32:06( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: two of us and between our two staffs is, as he has described it, this is a effort aimed at the problems that we face. and one demonstration of the fact is that we have in a bipartisan fashion come in a with a number significantly below that which the president requested.

1:32:07 to 1:32:28( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: if it had been effort, i'm assuming that it would have been responsive entirely to the request. as senator dorgan has indicated, we have a number of member-directed items of spending. and when people you get the money for that, the answer is we have canceled the president's directed orders of spending.

1:32:53 to 1:33:14( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: will be done p the start of the fiscal year. that is a goal that has not been achieved in decades. and it's a further tribute to the leadership of senator dorgan that we're on that path. as i've said, mr. president, the bill the president's request -- this

1:33:37 to 1:33:58( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: year put a great deal of money into these accounts. we didn't want to ignore the fact that they from the stimulus bill in coming up with our own figures. now, the committee, as senator

1:33:59 to 1:34:21( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: dorgan has s starts for the corps engineers. i repeat that and reemphasize that because complaints tha going to get on the floor about member-directed spending are for projects in the corps of engineers, and they will say,

1:34:22 to 1:34:44( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: well, you are calling for earmarks -- to use the dreaded word "for this proje project. because we have no new starts, every project we're is an ongoing project, so that if we were to canceling it, it would undoubtedly ending up costg more money rather than

1:34:45 to 1:35:05( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: would be saved if the earmark were to be struck down. in the bureau of reclamation we are $55 million below fy 2009 levels. the request is $55 million below fy 2009 l the committee provides an additional $110 million to the bureau. and as senator dorgan has said,

1:35:06 to 1:35:27( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: this is because of the tremendous backlog of underfunded projects. and let us from what happens when we do proceed with the proper maintenance in this area. in my own state of utah, a privately owned irrigation canal

1:35:28 to 1:35:49( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: broke and flooded the community of logan, utah, and prapblgically in the process took the lives of two young children and their mother who were overwhelmed as a result of this. this is a reminder to us that we have a responsibility to keep this funding going because the human cost can be significant. these types of accidents are

1:35:50 to 1:36:11( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: only avoidable if we're vigilant in maintaining the infrastructure and making the appropriate investments. now, with respect to the department of energy, the committee recommends $27.4 billion for the deptment of energy, which is below the president's request. again, a demonstration of the fact that we are attempting to

1:36:12 to 1:36:32( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: be good stewards and that we are paying attention to the fact that the department of energy was already the benef over $45 billion in and stimulus funding in fy 2009. not all that will be spent; in this fiscal year, so that that's a litt bit of

1:36:33 to 1:36:55( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: of how much they will have to offset. but looking at the amount they had from the stimulus package, we felt we were appropriate in coming in $1 billion below the president's reqst. now, we do recommend an additional $100 million for nuclear power 2010 in order to complete this project. the bill restores $50 million funding for integrated

1:36:56 to 1:37:16( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: university program and r and reactor facilities account that support nuclear engineering and research and traing that was request. i do that partly because i believe i join with senator dorgan in doing it. and also, because assignment, i'm taking the place of senator domenici, and he will

1:37:17 to 1:37:37( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: come back and haunt us both if we're not appropriately supportive of nuclear power. his great work in that area is something that i think we should carry on. there are other issues that the senator from north dakota has already mentioned that i will not touch on as we go along, because i don't want to be redundant.

1:37:38 to 1:37:58( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: we do provide an increasen funding for the office of science, $127 million over the current year levels. i think that's essential to sustain investment in the important scientific facilities country. let's talk about cleanup. there are many members in the senate from states that support

1:37:59 to 1:38:19( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: a strong environmental cleanup program, and the request proposed reducing cleanup funding by over from current-year levels, well, we believe that the faster we can move on cleanup, the cheaper it will be over the long term because contractors are out of work now, they're anxious to get

1:38:20 to 1:38:42( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: back to work, and they will make low bids. and to take advantage of that situatio million in additional funding for both defense and non-defense cleanups. again, there is such an activity going on in that moving ahead and having funding available now wil save

1:38:43 to 1:39:03( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: us a significant amount long term. so funding has been added for cleanup activities at d.o.e. facilities located in south carolina york, illinois, kentucky, and new mexico. and california. the committee's also restored critical funding in our national

1:39:04 to 1:39:24( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: security sites which was reduced in the president's budget request. an additional $83 million is added to the weapons account to invest in critical infrastructure and science facilities. now, mr. president, we are attempting to highlight w consider to be the failure of

1:39:25 to 1:39:46( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: this administration to address fully the spent nuclear fuel and defense waste inventory of this country. consistent with the president's request, a minimum level of fundinhas been provided to sustain the n.r.c. license review process of the yucca mountain project. and the secretary of energy has determined he will convene a

1:40:09 to 1:40:29( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: in this trust fund will be $23.8 billion. the committee has included language directing the secretary to conduct an evaluation of the sufficiency of the fund and suspend the annual collection from ratepayers until he's had his strategy to address the question of spent fuel inventory. another problem that has

1:40:51 to 1:41:12( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: any of the proposed budget gimmicks included in the request, and we have rejected a new tax on uranium fuel to pay with that, mr. president, i think i've covered the highlights of this. i'm sure there is more that the chairman will talk about. i will listen to what he has to sa if there's any pet

1:41:13 to 1:41:34( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: i think needs to be highlighted that he misses, i will rise to my feet again. but i wt to summarize that committee has not included funding for new starts for either members of this body or for the president. the funding is dedicated to completion of ongoingrojects.

1:41:35 to 1:41:56( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: and we have reduced the amount of member-directed spending by 8% hear the complaints that some people have with respect to that process. we've worked hard to rebalance the administration's request to ensure that investment in water infrastructure is sufficient. we recognize that we could not accommodate all the needs across

1:41:57 to 1:42:08( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: the country soe focused on the effort on foregoing new starts. i believe the budget strikes an appropriate balance, and i