Senate Proceeding on Sep 30th, 2009 :: 1:42:10 to 2:22:55
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1:42:10 to 2:22:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jeff Sessions

1:42:11 to 1:42:33( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: quorum call: a sator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: i would ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, i want to speak today once concerning the irresponsible, uustified increases in spending that we're

1:42:34 to 1:42:54( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: seeing by this congres this nation is -- i don't believe has ever seen anything like it in the non-defense it's threatening this country's long-term financial health. so i'm going to focus today on some of the appropriations bills that this chamber is considering

1:42:55 to 1:43:17( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: as well as the next highway trust fund bailout that's in the works. as these charts will show -- and my staff will bring those here in a minute -- the run-up in appropriations spending that we are seeing today is pretty much unprecedented in the history of

1:43:18 to 1:43:38( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: this congress. the agriculture appropriations over the dramatic. we passed that recently. ag appropriation 14.5% in this year's budget -- this year's appropriations bill over last year. 14.5%. that would double the

1:43:39 to 1:44:00( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: agriculture budget, if we maintain those five years. that's a stunning number. the average increase in agriculture spending was 2.1% compounded over the seven-year period from 2003 to 2009. and yet, we now jump up in this

1:44:01 to 1:44:25( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: time of unprecedented deficits and debt, we have a 14% increase. the average, 2.1%, that we had from 2003 to 2009, many criticize as being excessive, but it was about the rate of inflation. we know today inflation is virtually nonexistent, and we

1:44:26 to 1:44:46( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: end up with a 14% increase. you can bring that on over. and if you look at the insuperior department, those changes over the past nine years are also -- look at the department, those changes over the past dramatic. we just passed the appropriations bill.

1:44:47 to 1:45:08( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: interior and e.p.a. have been put together. the 2010 senate bill over the previous year. let's take tt chart and s back on the ag, if you have that one. this just shows in graphic

1:45:09 to 1:45:30( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: detail how the agricultural spendi i know my colleague nebraska believes in agriculture, and i do too. but this is one of the few times agricultural bill. we don't have the money to increase spending 14%. look at this. president bush said, you spend

1:45:31 to 1:45:52( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: too much on nelson. but he was pretty frugal over the years. here we have in 200915% and -- in these frugal years.

1:45:53 to 1:46:14( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: our debts today are so much greater than what we had in those years, it makes u how is it that we got to this. if you look at the interior, as i just mentioned, we s same thing. we tried to -- the environmental protection agency has not always been a part of this mcniche, but we --

1:46:15 to 1:46:35( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: but we worked hard to make sure we spend apples to apples. and you less less than 2% in 2002, 5.6% 16% this yea i could not vote for that. i could not vote for that. i don't think our colleagues are

1:46:36 to 1:46:56( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: listening to their constituents back home. they know something isoing awry u they think we are detatched from reality. does not this chart suggest that they are correct? this mention that the environmental

1:46:57 to 1:47:18( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: protection agency, their increase this year is 33%. that would double in two to three years. and -- to three years. let

1:47:19 to 1:47:42( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: do not count -- the largest appropriations bill in the history of america, which we passed in february -- wait a minute. i hear my wife right jeff, would passed when you voted against it. the senate passed if you added that on to it, it

1:47:43 to 1:48:04( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: would add another $11illion to their spending and take, i thi up to 50% increase. so interior got a lot of money out of the stimulus bill. this is not including the stimulus spending is what i'm saying. this is baseline spending. and so next year they'll want to increase again. and it will be on a much higher

1:48:05 to 1:48:27( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: baseline, a 16% higher baseline than the previous year. and i'll get to this o in -- next. the thud appropriations, transportaon, housing, and urban development.

1:48:28 to 1:48:49( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: since the transportation h.u.d. bill has only been around for three years in this configuration together, we -- we've been able -- this is what we were able to graph out for those two bills. and the average of all

1:48:50 to 1:49:13( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: disc increases for all of the appropriation bills that we've had from years, average 5.2% compounded. so when you see a

1:49:14 to 1:49:34( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: this year in the fy 2010 bill, that's four times plus the 15-year average of appropriations for discretionary spending in our country. at a would double every three to four years. so what we discovered was surprising.

1:49:35 to 1:49:56( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the average spending increases om 2003 to was 4.4%. however, this year we have 12.3% increase in theaseline funding for the c.j.s. bill.

1:49:57 to 1:50:18( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: at that rate, justice science spending would double every six years. and that -- that doesn't include the $16.9 b accounts got from the stimulus legislation. and, finally, there's a state

1:50:19 to 1:50:42( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: and foreign it has been together for three years and that's all we were able to graph we can once again compare it to appropriations increase from all the bills from 2000 -- to 2009, which i said

1:50:43 to 1:51:05( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: so the 33% increase in the fy 2010 c.j.s. bill is over times spending. at this rate the spending would double every two to three years at a time of unprecedented deficit. this week we're going to have

1:51:06 to 1:51:26( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: before us appropriations bill, our budget. it increases spending at rate compared with fy 2009, and that's -- compared with the fiscal time the rate of inflation.

1:51:27 to 1:51:48( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: excluding food and energy. which, according to the bureau of labor and statistics is 1.4% for the past 12 months. we've got excluding food and energy, we have inflation at the rate of 1.4%, and we're funding our own selves in the legislative branch at a 6 increase.

1:51:49 to 1:52:09( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: and if you look at food -- if you include the cost energy, and there some good news here, inflation has gone down, actually. we're in a period of deflation. gone down 1.5% when you -- when you figure that over the entire year including food and energy

1:52:10 to 1:52:30( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: price, which have dropped considerably from gasoline price that's we remember not long ago. so if you add the stimulus and the 09 to the fy 2010 increase instead, you come up with an 8.2%

1:52:31 to 1:52:51( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: what is wrong with spending 16% are more on these bills than last year or on our average? well, the simplest way to put it is we don't have the money. we're going to have to borrow money to do this spending. we borrow the money. it's not free money. we don't have the power just to spend money.

1:52:52 to 1:53:14( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: when we go into debt, we the money and people buy treasury bills and that -- and notes and we use that money to pay the debt. -- the debt, the shortfall between what we spend and what we took in in taxes. so we're goingo have to borrow money from a lot of people. but china is our biggest loaner ofoney.

1:53:15 to 1:53:37( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: and other countries do also. shortly after president obama's inauguration, he budget entitled "a new era of responsibility," and here are some quotes from his message in that document. quote -- "therefore, while while our budget will run deficits, we must

1:53:38 to 1:53:59( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the tough choices necessary to restore fiscal discipline, cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office and put o footing." close quote. now, that's a good statement. i just have to say i'm still looking to where those tough choices are going to be made. according to the congressional

1:54:00 to 1:54:20( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: budget oice, our independent source of information, the president's budget doubles the deficit in five years and triples do we here it is. this is the congressional budget office. this is a nonpartisan group. although our democratic majority on the budget committee, of

1:54:21 to 1:54:42( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: which i'm a member, have the votes to select our director and we -- i think we all agreed on the director. but this is not an unbias report. since the history of the founding of this nation, we ran up a total debt -- national debt of $5.8 trillion.

1:54:43 to 1:55:04( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: according to c.b.o., the president's budget -- and we're on track to get there, unfortunately -- means that in five years double to $11.8 trillion. and in 2019, he had a 10-year budget he submitted, it would be be $17.3 trillion, tripling the

1:55:05 to 1:55:26( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: national debt in 10 years. i know people don't think that's true. but that's the numbers we have and we' on track to get there and this -- there's -- this does not include unprecedented increases in discretionary spending that we're seeing on the floor of the senate. it also doesn't include health care. this number was scored before we

1:55:27 to 1:55:48( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: talked about spending $1 trillion or more on health care additions. interest on the debt. now we have that chart. i have to men the numbers are so large, people have difficulty comprehending them. people tell me that all the time.

1:55:49 to 1:56:10( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: $1 trillion, i have difficulty understanding how large that is. what about interest? we know what it takes when you pay your mortgage interest. -- interest or your credit cd interest. you have to pay the underlying debt and then you pay the interest on top of that. sometimes interest can -- can put you in the poor house.

1:56:11 to 1:56:32( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: well, in this interest on our total national debt is $1.170 billion. that's a lot of money. it's more than -- i mean, i think alabama's state budget, including education, is $15 billion, or something like that.

1:56:33 to 1:56:53( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the whole state of alabama, we're about one/50th of the nation's size, $170 billion. and it's going up dramatically. they score it at the end of 10 years as the annual payment of the united states to people we owe money to just in the form of interest, not principal, not

1:56:54 to 1:57:14( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: paying down the debt, just in interest would be $799 billion. almost $800. and if interest rate goes up a little higher than they have projecte projected interest rates will go up higher, particularly the blue chip forecast, which is highly

1:57:15 to 1:57:36( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: -- is a highly respected group of economists that forecast various things, they forecast a higher interest rate. an if we have what some people interest rates as we did in late 1970's, because of our irresponsible spending, it could

1:57:37 to 1:57:58( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: hit $1.29 trillion o or $1,290,000,000,000 in interest. so we spend about $50 billion, $60 billion a year on highways. we spend about $100 billion in this congress on aid to education. and we're going to see fro from $170 billion to $800 billion more that we've got ta pay in interest?

1:57:59 to 1:58:19( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: there's no free lunch. you can't borrow of of debt. when you spend money you don't have, you borrow it. and you have to pay interest on it. we have low interest rates today. that seduced some of our masters of the universe to say, well, let's run up a little debt right now. run up a little debt is one thing.

1:58:20 to 1:58:41( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: but the interest rates are going to go up as c.b.o. protects, they are pretty low today because of the slow economy. and i'm very concerned about this. what i'm concerned about is our spending in these appropriation bills indicates that we're oblivious to this.

1:58:42 to 1:59:03( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: this is reality. i'm not making this up. this is reality. and the american people intuitivy understand it. and they are really worried about it. and i think they should be. it's -- we are the ones who seem to be not connected to reality.

1:59:04 to 1:59:25( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the president also stated in his budget submission documents these words -- quote -- "then there are the years that come along once in a generation when we look at where been and recognize that we need a break from the troubled past, that the problems we face to demand that we begin charting a

1:59:26 to 1:59:46( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: new path and this is one much those years." close quote. so it does appear that we're having a break with our past. we're increases in spending, the likes of which we've never seen before in our basic baseline appropriations bill. and even the deficits that i

1:59:47 to 2:00:11( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: have mentioned assume not a recession in the next 10 years, but robust growth in the next few years and solid growth in the last five years. so basically, the projections on the deficit and the interest rate that we're going to have to

2:00:12 to 2:00:33( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: carry are greater. and the deficits -- let me share this with my colleagues. i get asked this in town hall meetings. well, when do we pay the debt back? when do we pay it off? i'm paying my mortgage. i pay principle and interest. when is the federal government going to pay back its debt? the answer is we have no plan to do so.

2:00:34 to 2:00:54( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the only plan we have is to pay interest and increase the debt. for example, this year, the budget d estimated to be $1.8 trillion, the largest ever. last year's was $450 billion.

2:00:55 to 2:01:15( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: this is 1.8 trillion this year. the c.b.o. forecast that the lowest annual deficit we will have in the next 10 years is over $600 billion. so how can you pay when the lowest deficit you're going to have is $600 billion? the best year they are projecting would increase the debt by $600 billion.

2:01:16 to 2:01:36( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: indeed, what's even more troubling is in the outer years, years eight, nine, and ten, the deficit is growing. in the 10th year, they project that the deficit that will result from the president's spending policies would be $900 billion.

2:01:37 to 2:01:57( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: so there's no plan to pay this back. it's only a plan to increase the total debt, which inetably increases the interest burdens that are going to follow on our children and grandchildren. we are reaching into the future to pour money satisfy our current needs because some say we're in a cris and we have got to get

2:01:58 to 2:02:22( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: out of this crisis, let's just spend money. and we are using that as an excuse to increase our legislative branch spending, our interior spending, our agriculture spending that at base line levels are higher than anything we have ever done in

2:02:23 to 2:02:44( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: recent memory. let's hope that the scenarios as i mentioned don't happen. i think it's possible, and i have a lot of confidence in the american people that somehow, some way, their voice is going to be heard and there are going to be some changes washington. if we don't do it ourselves, they are liable toend somebody up here to replace us who will do it.

2:02:45 to 2:03:08( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: so let's -- but it appears that some of our major creditors are taking note of the debts we're running up. our creditors are these numbers. they are not oblivious to what's going on. there is a special kind of

2:03:09 to 2:03:30( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: treasury bond that we sell to get people to loan the government money called the treasury inflation protected securities or tips. unlike be at a certain interest re and that could be devalued when inflation increases, tips adjust their value if inflation goes up.

2:03:31 to 2:03:51( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: so if people with a lot of money looking at these numbers, are they betting that we will see inflation go up or are they expecting inflation to go down? it's pretty clear they expect inflation to go up because investor interest in the tips is soaring. the dow jones news wires

2:03:52 to 2:04:13( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: reported september 13 that prices on tips have risen 8.7% this year, whereas the prices of regular treasury bonds h shrunk by 2.6%. "smart money" magazine reported

2:04:14 to 2:04:35( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: september 23rd that investors poured $8.5 billion into tips in the second quarter of this year alone, double the amount for the same period last year. "the wl street journal" reported september 23rd that investors have poured poured $17 billion into tips so far this year, whereas they purchased only $10 billion in tips all of last year.

2:04:36 to 2:04:58( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: meanwhile, the chinese who are some of our biggest creditors with more than $800 billion in treasury bonds have expressed concerns about inflation here and have shown a corresponding interest in buying tips. according to the "wall street journal," they discussed tips at a -- at high level talks in washington at the end of july.

2:04:59 to 2:05:19( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the unid kingdom's "daily telegraph" in an article entitled -- quote -- "china are alarmed by u.s. money printing," close quote, on september 6 even quoted a top chinese communist party official lecturing the unitedtates on spending and then quoting benjamin franklin

2:05:20 to 2:05:40( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: to the americans. he said -- quote -- "he who goes borrowing goes sorrowing," close quote. how ignamous is that, to be lectured on spending by communists? the spread in interest rates

2:05:41 to 2:06:01( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: between the 10-year tips and the regular 10-year treasuries has grown from about zero -- they were both having about the same rate of interest at the beginning ofhis year, to nearly 2%.?? that means one can get nearly a 2% better rate by buying regular

2:06:02 to 2:06:22( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: treasuries, but people still want tips. why? because they believe and are afraid that as the years go by, inflation is going to rise, and they will get more interest back by buying a tips even though it's 2% below the basic treasury rate than if they bought a treasury bill with a fixed rate over the next years.

2:06:23 to 2:06:44( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: so meanwhile, the dollar is hovering at a one-year low, partially because the fed recently decided to have interest rates unchanged at zero percent, basically, and decided to extend through march its time frame for purchasing purchasing $1.25 trillion in mortgage securities and and $200 billion in government agency debt.

2:06:45 to 2:07:06( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the dollar has slid 6.2% this year on inflation fears while gold -- you hea them advertise on the television, but gold has soared 15%. gold goes up on inflation fears in the future. confidence in the dollar has sunk soow that the union had a report that proposed replacing

2:07:07 to 2:07:27( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the dollar as the global reserve currency at the u.n. conference on trade and development annual trade report, published september 7. ina has also expressed interest in an alternative currency. not only that, because of all this bor

2:07:28 to 2:07:48( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: hit our $12.1 trillion debt limit, which when? not too many months ago when we passed the the $800 billion stimulus package in february. our debt has increased by by $1.1 trillion just since president bush has inaugurated. the treasury department has been

2:07:49 to 2:08:09( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: holding record auctions of treasury bills and notes just to keep up with the deficits and the debt. now, another aspect of the continuing resolution that wll be considering this week another bailout of service. this is the third postal bailout

2:08:10 to 2:08:30( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: in eight years. the post office was supposed to be completely selffunding by now -- self-funding by now, but they still refused and are unable to pay out the benefits and expenses. according to the congressional research service, they face

2:08:31 to 2:08:53( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: abou funded -- unfunded $95 billion. which is why they're supposed to make payments that are being suspended by the continuing resolution. they are scheduled to make make $5.1 billion in payments this year for their unfunded

2:08:54 to 2:09:14( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: pension liabilities, but in this bill, we are letting them only pay $1.1 billion. there's nothing free here. we think ok, we'll just let them not pay the full amount? those payments are to make their benefits actuarially sound.

2:09:15 to 2:09:36( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: this 4 billion-dollar bailout is in addition to the $7.1 billion bailout that was provided in 2003 and the $1.5 billion that was provided in 2006. c.b.o., our congressional budget office, says this is costless because it shifts money from future accounts to current expenses.

2:09:37 to 2:09:57( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: but if we keep doing this without structural reforms from the postal service, taxpayers will wind up on the hook for a good portion of those unfunded liabilities. and why is the post office in such a financially poor position? in terms of efficiency, labor costs consume 80% of their

2:09:58 to 2:10:18( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: revee, whereas u.p.s. and fedex spend 65% and 45% respectively on their costs. that's why u.p.s. is terrified of opening up first-class -- the postal service is terrified about opening up first-class mail delivery.

2:10:19 to 2:10:40( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: and the postal service is nearly insol vent despite not paying any taxes, postal worker benefits are even more generous than other federal workers which have the highest form of

2:10:41 to 2:11:01( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: benefits that you can have. and they've got to have some reform in the postal service. i'm not going to go into detail now, but a recent "federal times" article, the postal service pays the equivalent of 1,125 employees to sit around and do nothing because they don't have enough work to do, and the union rules prohibit

2:11:02 to 2:11:22( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: layoffs. we just can't continue to do this. we cannot continue this. now let'surn to the highway trust fund. we are going to be asked to pass an extension of the trust fund spending. it struck me as perhaps too coincidental that our highway

2:11:23 to 2:11:43( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: trust fund keeps running out of money year after year after year. what's happening here? why is it always running out of money? after all, the highway program is supsed to be funded by the gas tax and to be deficit neutral. however, last year, we were told we had to borrow people who loan us money,

2:11:44 to 2:12:04( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: including china and saudi arabia and others, to replenish the highway fund. and this year we have already borrowed another $7 billion to fix the shortfall. the bill before us this week does not borrow additional money from the treasury. it also does nothing to address

2:12:05 to 2:12:26( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the constant deficit in trust fund -- the trust fund faces. i'm told that the fund has been facing and will face a deficit of about $10 billion a year, which means this bill is just kicking the can down the roa, and we're going to be asked for either another bailout or a tax hike in the future.

2:12:27 to 2:12:49( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: now, we can't savage the highway budget. we've got to maintain a regional spending level for our highway budget, but we have not been going about this responsibly. we are basically funding it by increasing our debt. that's no way to go -- no way to go. some make the point that people

2:12:50 to 2:13:11( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: are driving less and they pay less is some truth to that, but the most recent authorization bill, the safe and accountable, flexible, efficient transportaon equity act, contained a time bomb in that it created, really, the crisis we're in today. it clearly appears to have been

2:13:12 to 2:13:35( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: written with the objective of drawing down the highway trust fund rapidly to zero and perhaps beyond. the previous highway bill had some safety mechanisms built into it to prevent declines in our revenue from bankrupting the trust fund.

2:13:36 to 2:13:57( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: but the safety weakened both of them. one known as the byrd test, to the point that they are basically irrelevant today. the combinatn of constantly increasing spending and disabled safety mechanisms to contain spending means that a crisis was almost inevitable. as early as april of 2006, the

2:13:58 to 2:14:18( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: congressional budget office was predicting significant negative balances in the out years of the transportation spending, but did we take any action to confront that looming shortfall? no, no action was taken, either in the authorization committees

2:14:28 to 2:14:48( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: or the appropriations committee. the predictable gap between authorized spending and predicted revenue, a prediction that the highway trust fund would soon go bankrupt, which is where the balances hit zero and the time bomb goes off, despite predictionpredictions from c.b.o. that this would happen, to this day, no action to be taken by either

2:14:49 to 2:15:10( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the authorizers or appropriators to rein in spending or create the kind of revenues necessary to sustain the program. instead, we're just supposed to keep borrowing -- borrowing, borrowing, borrowing. debt, debt, debt. the excuses we keep hearing to

2:15:11 to 2:15:34( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: justify these bailouts is inouts is th the highway trust fund has been raided in the past. but that's not accurate. it's inaccurate. according to the g.a.o., which is our independent agency, the general fund paid for $39 billion in highway expenses from 1956 to996, including interest, these payments were worth $164 billion.

2:15:35 to 2:15:55( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: so it seems that, at best, the highway trust fund isn't owed anything, and it perhaps actually owes money to the general fund. in fact, g.a.o. determined in that report that as of the highway trust fund had been forced to pay for all highway expenditures, it would have been

2:15:56 to 2:16:16( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: in deficit $152 billion. we're not raiding the highway fund. we've been putting in extra money into the highway fund and where did we get it? by borrowing more money and increasing our debt. and those transfers didn't stop in 1997. before the yents series of bailouts -- before the current

2:16:17 to 2:16:37( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: series of bailouts began, congress provided for $31 tbhl transfers over ten years to the highway trust fund as part of the 2004 a afnlgt so as i mentioned before, we've talked about we have this week a highway trust fund

2:16:38 to 2:16:58( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: extension before us. it does nothing to help with the constant deficits in the program except borrow more known put into it. and all it does is keep spending at levels we know we don't he the money to sustain.

2:16:59 to 2:17:19( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: in fact, if we keep spending at the current levels, the highway trust fund will require $87 billion in bailouts from 2010 to 2019. i remember a few weeks ago in a stunning vote, senator vitter from louisia offered a very

2:17:20 to 2:17:41( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: fine amendment. we were told that the stimulus package tha had to be passed so quickly in february to was going to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and our highway programs, creating permanent improvements that would benefit the nation for years to come. most people perhaps have misse

2:17:42 to 2:18:02( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the fact that less than 4% of the $800 billion that was appropriated in february went to highways. less than 4%. much of the stum us will bill has still not yet -- much of the stimulus billas still not yet been spent.

2:18:03 to 2:18:24( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: probably $600 billion is left unspefnlts senator vitter said, look, we said we were going to use this pon for highways. we're spring a shortfall in the trust fund. it is going to cause serious repercussions in our tran let's take the money and fix it on a more permane basis -- 18 months, two years, something like that -- and take the money from the stimulus bill that

2:18:25 to 2:18:45( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: hasn't been spent yet. and we voted on this floor. i voted with senator vitter, and it was votedown. and the effect of that amendment that was voted down was to say that this united states senate prefers to borrow the money necessary to fix

2:18:46 to 2:19:08( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: trust fund, increase our debt rather than using the money we intaiskly told the american people we were set aside for highways -- we were setting aside for highways. thought that was a very irresponsible vote and it said volumes about it. and basically, except with a few exceptions, our democratic majority had made up their mind

2:19:09 to 2:19:29( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: howhey wanted to handle this shortfall, which was increasing the debt. and they refused to consider taking it from the already-appropried stimulus package. so, unfortunately, the scores are not the clearest when it comes to these aim not sure that that's all c.b.o.'s -- i'm not sure that

2:19:30 to 2:19:50( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: that's all c.b. o.'s fault or the budget committee's. you would think that a bill that alws billions of dplars additional deficit spending wouldn't score as much. but according to the c.b.o., highway spending is discretionary, and, therefore, what matters in terms of the deficit is what's appropriated, not what's authorized. but of course if you ask the

2:19:51 to 2:20:11( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: appropriators, they would simpl say they provide what's authorized. for fiscal year 2010, the appropriators provided what they expected to be authorized by simply assuming that this extension of spending and general fund transfer would happen, and that's one of the reasons why there was an

2:20:12 to 2:20:33( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: incredible 23% increase in spending in the senate-passed bill. so the committees are playing a shell game, i have to say, taxpayers' dollars. somebody has to step up here and start taking responsibility for the seriousness of the situation

2:20:34 to 2:20:57( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: we're in. if you look at how much transportation spending has increased over the last 10 years and where it's expected to go, a 2005 highway bill provided $286 billion in spending over five years and allowed spending to in period.

2:20:58 to 2:21:19( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: 23% over five years. the 2007 spending it provided reprented a 92% spending increase fro almost double. so you've offered an amendment to -- i offered the amendment to reduce that spending and fund it

2:21:20 to 2:21:41( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: properly through -- and it failed 84-16. so now the house transportation committee apparently wanted the next major reauthorization to spend $500 billion over the nt six years. and that's per-year increase spend of 46%.

2:21:42 to 2:22:03( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: -- and that's a per-year increase of spendg of 46%. one thing we're unified on is we need to adequately fund highways. i thought we had an agreement in dong thcongress that the stimulus bill would emphasize infrastructure. it does not but we still spent the money.

2:22:04 to 2:22:24( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: the reason we're not getting nearly as much jobs impact from th too much of it is going to amour forous things that don't create benefits and don't create jobs, i have to say. but racialtion the numbers that we say here -- that on this chart, the debt of the

2:22:25 to 2:22:46( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: united states is projected triple in 10 years, is unsustainable. everybody but when do we get sear dwrus? we're not getting serious in this year's budget. it is an unprecedented increase in spending, even more. the long-term budget that the president submitted us to and

2:22:47 to 2:22:57( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: was essentially approved by thi congress goes up -- shows it tripling in theext 10 years impaved on what they are their projections are for spending.