Haley Stevens: “I am here today as chairman to urge Members of the Senate to vote favorably for this bill and to send it to the…”

“I am here today as chairman to urge Members of the Senate to vote favorably for this bill and to send it to the President. The big bill in this conference report before us, the Labor-Health and Human Services bill, is the 13th appropriations bill. With the adoption of this conference report, we will have sent all 13 bills to the President. If one considers the timeframe of this Congress, with the time we spent on the impeachment process and then the delays that came our way because of the various emergencies that have taken our attention, particularly in the appropriations process this year-- Kosovo, the devastating hurricanes, and the disaster in the farm area-- one will understand why we are this late in the day considering the 13th bill. This bill has had some problems because of our overall budget control mechanisms. We have been limited in terms of the money available. We have stayed within those limits. We have forward funded some of the items so they will be charged against future years. But those are items that primarily would be spent in those years. We have had a real commitment on a bipartisan basis not to invade the Social Security surplus.”