Richard Shelby: “Mr. President, this is not a Treasury appropriations issue that is before us. This debate has addressed the issue, and…”

“Mr. President, this is not a Treasury appropriations issue that is before us. This debate has addressed the issue, and adopted an amendment. The amendment would cause the committee to find $85 million in the conference to stay within our allocation. We would have to take funds from the accounts that I spoke about earlier. The bill funds law enforcement, the IRS, and other basic Government functions, such as the Secret Service, and GSA. This bill does not come close to the President's budget request. The administration would like more money in this bill for law enforcement and others, not less. This amendment would further reduce those programs, if it were adopted, $85 million. The Senator's amendment may be a worthy one, and probably is a worthy one, but the committee has an obligation, I believe, to fund the basic Government functions before the committee that we have jurisdiction over, and the Wyden amendment undermines the committee's ability to do so. I hope that the Senate will not waive the Budget Act.”