At the Station: Much More Than Trains
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President, I regret that I must vote against this conference report. Once again, I have the unpleasant task of speaking before my colleagues about unacceptably high funding levels of parochial projects throughout this bill.
In addition, the conferees have included several legislative provisions that were not in either bill, nor were these initiatives considered by either the House or Senate before they were summarily added to this bill. Therefore, despite the fact that the bill contains funding for many purposes which I strongly support, I oppose its passage because of these cortland s garage exmouth market provisions.
This is an unacceptable waste of the taxpayers hard-earned money, and I will not cortland s garage exmouth market a party to Congress' pork-barrel spending habits. President, I very much regret having to oppose a bill that contains critical funding for programs for our nation's veterans. This represents the largest annual increase since the Department of Veterans Affairs was created. Although I sincerely welcome this increase, I will continue to do all in my power to find additional money in the budget to fund veterans health care at an amount that will guarantee a higher, sustainable level of quality health care for all veterans.
It is important to note that the level of earmarks and set-asides in the Veterans Affairs section of this conference report is down from previous years. Certain provisions in this section, however, illustrate that Congress still does not have its priorities in order.
For example, it is disturbing to me and many other Senators who cortland s garage exmouth market on the floor of this body to fight for additional funding for veterans benefits to learn that the conferees have agreed to direct some of the critical dollars from veterans health care to fund wasteful projects like the "mothballing" of four historic buildings in Dayton, Ohio.
There are other notable examples of unnecessary items cortland s garage exmouth market in the conference report. An especially troublesome expense, neither budgeted for nor requested by the Administration for cortland s garage exmouth market past eight years, is a provision that directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to continue the eight-year-old demonstration project involving the Clarksburg, West Virginia VAMC and the Ruby Memorial Hospital at West Virginia University.
Like the transportation and military construction funding bills, the Cortland s garage exmouth market funding bill also includes many construction project additions to the President's budget request. Although all of these areas likely are deserving of veterans cemeteries, I just wonder how many other national cemetery projects in other states were leapfrogged to ensure that these states received the VA's highest priority.
This is an amazing feat, since this appropriations bill is supposed to provide single-year appropriations, yet is attempting to direct next year's funding, too. This unusual procedure is outside of the established reprogramming process - unfortunately, it sends the message to the VA that the money can be reprogrammed "as long as the money stays in Texas.
Some final egregious examples of unrequested, additional spending include the following: These areas appear to have been added ahead of higher priority communities because their interests were well-represented in the Appropriations Conference.
I am encouraged by the increase in veterans health care funding, and if this title of the bill had been separately presented to the Senate, I would have wholeheartedly supported it, despite the earmarks and set-asides it contains. Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD This title of the bill contains the funding for many programs vital in cortland s garage exmouth market the housing needs of our nation and for the revitalization and development of our communities.
Many of the programs administered by HUD help our nation's families purchase their homes, assist low-income families obtain affordable housing, combat discrimination in the housing market, assist in rehabilitating neighborhoods and help our nation's most vulnerable -- the elderly, disabled and disadvantaged -- have access to safe and affordable housing.
When the Senate debated this bill, I highlighted for my colleagues numerous funding earmarks for specific housing proposals and set asides contained in the Senate version of this bill. Unfortunately, I find myself coming to the floor today to again highlight the numerous budgetary violations which remain or were added to this conference report. The list of projects which received priority billing is quite long but I will highlight a few of the more egregious violations.
In addition to the numerous budgetary violations which this report contains, I am also concerned about the legislative initiatives which have suddenly appeared during conference which were not contained in the Senate or House appropriation bills. The intent of this legislative language is certainly laudable -- providing safe, quality and affordable housing for seniors and the disabled is and must remain a priority for our nation.
However, we can not and should not be passing comprehensive legislation which makes substantial changes to the housing system without allowing both chambers of Congress cortland s garage exmouth market debate and provide cortland s garage exmouth market input to such an important proposal. Certainly, an issue as important as meeting the housing needs of our cortland s garage exmouth market vulnerable population, deserves thoughtful deliberation and careful review through the established legislative process and should not be attached at the last moment to a funding conference report.
This is not the manner in which we should be implementing meaningful reform intended to benefit the cortland s garage exmouth market of our nation. President, after reviewing the sections funding the Environmental Protection Agency, I find that the conferees continued to run rampant in their pork-barrelling in this section of the bill. There are few areas in this final conference report that clearly indicate the level of parochial actions than those targeted in EPA's budget.
President, I understand that we have critical needs around our country dealing with leaking underground storage tanks, water and wastewater infrastructure, air pollution, pesticide abatement, and other important environmental issues.
Many of the projects identified in this conference report are no doubt critical to many communities who are forced to deal with these serious environmental threats.
I do cortland s garage exmouth market question their merit at all. I do question the process by which the appropriators have made decisions that prioritize certain projects over many others across our nation in such a blatant and provincial manner.
Again, this may very well be important, but there is little background provided in the report to explain the national priority interest of earmarking a million dollars to deal with animal waste management in six specific states.
EPA has an established process by which the agency administers grant and loan programs that are supposed to be awarded cortland s garage exmouth market a competitive and priority basis. However, these guidelines are simply thrown out the window when the conferees direct the agency through earmarks and directive language to give priority consideration to various states and projects rather than undergoing a competitive review.
I know first-hand that many of my constituents in Arizona have a great need to improve their water and wastewater systems, but they will be forced to wait in line while other projects are given priority treatment through this conference report. Other Independent Agencies Clearly, no title of the bill was left unsullied by pork-barrel spending. When will this outrageous pork-barrel spending stop? The conferees have also included legislative initiatives that were clearly out of scope of the conference.
The bill includes a general provision authorizing NASA to carry cortland s garage exmouth market a new program to demonstrate the commercial feasibility and economic viability of private business operations involved in the International Space Station. This cortland s garage exmouth market has not had the benefit of consideration in any hearings or public and private industry discussions. It would seem logical for private sector views to be considered if we hope to attract them to this venture.
The bill also cortland s garage exmouth market the way NASA will operate both the space station cortland s garage exmouth market the space shuttle program. We have already heard from some small companies that this program will put NASA and use of the shuttle for commercial payloads in direct competition.
We do not want to stifle the creativity and ingenuity of these small launch companies, nor should we rely upon NASA to provide all the answers to our space problems, especially in the area of commercialization of space. Finally, the conferees have included two provisions related to commercial space launch indemnification extensions and insurance and indemnification for experimental vehicles.
Neither of these provisions were included in either of the appropriations bills and they clearly fall within the jurisdiction of the appropriate authorizing committees. President, the appropriators should abide by the rules and procedures of the Senate and refrain from usurping the power of the authorizing committees, in fact, the rest of the Senate, by including these legislative provisions in a conference report written behind closed doors.
President, I am gravely disappointed that I am unable to vote for this conference report. This measure contains funding for many critical programs which help provide important resources to our communities. It includes vitally important funding to fulfill our obligation to our nation's veterans, those who fought for the peace and security we enjoy today.
Included in this bill is funding for section housing which I know most, if not all, of my colleagues would agree helps meet the needs of America's seniors by ensuring they have homes which are safe, affordable and accommodates the demands of aging. Cortland s garage exmouth market included is valuable funding for section which helps disabled individuals have an opportunity to live independently as part of a community in quality and reasonably priced homes.
President, because of the egregious amount of pork-barrel spending in this bill and the addition of legislative provisions clearly outside the scope of the conference, I must oppose its passage. I regret doing so because of the many important and worthy programs included in the conference agreement, but I cannot endorse the continued waste of taxpayer dollars on special-interest programs, nor can I acquiesce in bypassing the normal authorizing process for legislative initiatives.
Mr, President, the full list of the objectional provisions is on my Senate website. Adds Marshall County, Mississippi, Hardin County Tennessee and Letcher County, Kentucky ahead of other remote areas to become federally funded Community Health Care Centers to provide outpatient primary and preventive health care services to veterans in their home communities. These areas may have been cortland s garage exmouth market over higher priority communities because their interests were well represented in the Appropriations Conference.
The rural health care services delivery model will explore new methods of optimizing surgical, ambulatory, and mental health care services in rural settings.
