Dick Durbin: “I know the Senator from North Dakota has to leave and will be back tomorrow to discuss his amendment, but doesn't it…”

“I know the Senator from North Dakota has to leave and will be back tomorrow to discuss his amendment, but doesn't it strike those following this debate as strange that we are considering the appropriation for the Department of Defense for the next year and it includes everything except Iraq and Afghanistan? If this is truly an appropriations bill, if the Senate is meeting its responsibility in reviewing the requests of the administration to make certain they are reasonable, how can we, in good conscience, pass a bill without any reference to the costs of the war? That, of course, is a good turn of events for the administration because they do not have to explain how they will pay for it. This morning's newspapers across America disclosed we are facing a record-breaking budget deficit. We have gone, over the span of 3 years, from over $200 billion in surplus each year to over $450 billion in deficit. That does not count the Social Security portion which is about another $160 billion. We are facing record-breaking budget deficits. And now as we debate appropriations bills, these bills are not speaking to the reality of official spending under the Bush administration. To think we would consider this Department of Defense bill and not include the money necessary for the war in Iraq is to suggest that this bill does not tell the whole story.”