Chuck Grassley: “For those on the Budget Committee, this amendment attempts to do almost exactly what I did in the Budget Committee…”

“For those on the Budget Committee, this amendment attempts to do almost exactly what I did in the Budget Committee, somewhat lower numbers, but also the numbers are not fenced in the truest sense of the word because, under the budget resolution, that would be subject to a point of order, and we wanted to make sure the amendment was germane. So to the Budget Committee members, we are still trying to reduce the deficit by the amount we are saving on defense. For the rest of the Senate, I want to say my approach is the same, the same goal, lower numbers. We are speaking about reducing the defense numbers, and we are speaking about reducing the deficit when we save money on defense. The exception to that would be the President of the United States capability of declaring that he needs more money for defense and having that be considered, in an emergency, and not having to have offsetting numbers. It strikes a balance, I believe, between administration proposals for defense spending and that proposed in the budget resolution. The amendment would reduce the budget authority for defense for fiscal year 1997 by $8.3 billion below the budget resolution. Outlays for defense in fiscal year 1997 would be reduced by $2.3 billion. The savings are earmarked for deficit reduction.”