Cord Byrd: “This point of order is an unwise and cumbersome device that could prevent the committee from responding to the urgent…”

“This point of order is an unwise and cumbersome device that could prevent the committee from responding to the urgent needs of our Nation. The second amendment, which I joined in offering, would have stricken section 210 from the budget resolution. That section would reinstitute a congressional firewall on defense and nondefense discretionary spending for fiscal year 2001. This section of the budget resolution would set defense spending for fiscal year 2001 at $306,819,000,000 in new budget authority and $295,050,000,000 in outlays. For the nondefense category, the cap would be set at $289.7 billion in new budget authority and $327.5 billion in outlays. In other words, this budget resolution would cap defense spending at a level that is $9 billion above what it would take to maintain this year's level of spending adjusted for inflation. But the cap for nondefense spending would be set at a level requiring a cut of $19 billion in budget authority below this year's spending level. In other words, section 210 of the budget resolution now before the Senate would take away from the Appropriations Committee the ability to determine, through their committee markups, what the appropriate levels of defense spending or domestic spending should be. Imagine that. How silly can we get?”