Cord Byrd: “we are now in day 51 of the fiscal year. In order to finally bring the fiscal year 2005 appropriations season to a…”

“we are now in day 51 of the fiscal year. In order to finally bring the fiscal year 2005 appropriations season to a close, the Senate has before it a $388 billion, nine bill, 3,016-page monstrosity of a bill. Here it is, right here on the desk. Take a look at it. Of the nine appropriations bills in the bill, only two were ever debated in the Senate. The conference report includes a miscellaneous division that contains 32 unrelated provisions, most of which have never been considered by the Senate. There is not a single Member in this body who can say that he or she has read this bill. It contains complex and controversial matters. It contains an across-the-board cut of eight-tenths of 1 percent that arbitrarily reduces veterans medical care programs, health care programs, highway construction, and global AIDS programs. At midnight last night, a 64-page small business reauthorization bill was put in the bill without consultation. It contains controversial matter that was not in the freestanding bill that the Senate debated over a year ago. During the development of the appropriations bills this year, the House and Senate reviewed the President's budget carefully and, in some cases, approved provisions that moved the Nation in a different direction from that which the White House wanted. The White House issued veto threats on several of these issues.”