Roy Blunt

Well, I hear my friend's displeasure. In August, I think 41 Members of the majority joined with almost everyone on my side of the aisle to put the Protect America Act in place for this period of time that's about to expire. The very fact…

the truth is that this $50 billion that we're now prohibiting being collected from 23 million new American families next year isn't our money. It's their money. It's not money that we have this year. Now, it's money that we said at the…

I think this 18-month extension gives us the time we need to make SCHIP an even better program. It extends the current program. It increases funding for the current program. It helps the States that have a shortfall. It ensures that kids…

And I understand for the last 5 or 6 years we have taken the initial step necessary by June to not let this encumber the tax collecting system. And even if we now are able to clarify this, it is so late that it is going to have impact on…

They do, and it is a difference. I think the third thing that should be considered, that unfortunately we still are not able to bring ourselves to consider, is how you manage to deal with that revenue shortfall by savings and spending, by…

I would say whether the administration does it or we do it, this policy of taking revenue we don't have now, that we don't think we should be collecting and creating a situation where we have to come up with another tax to collect it, and…

That's what I thought, the possibility of Tuesday. I would point out to my friend that the bill that the President did sign, the Defense bill, was very close to the amount of money, a reduction in the amount of money that was equal to the…

On AMT, I am not sure the Senate has dealt with AMT yet, but my understanding is that they may very well send that back without the money to offset that tax relief in a tax increase. I am wondering under what circumstances we might or…

Well, I'm hopeful that my friend has mentioned that date again. Even after the experience of this week, we're still looking at that date. It may be the triumph of hope over experience, but we may all be motivated enough to get that done.

It does. As the gentleman knows, a month from today, actually starting January 1, those new payment schedules would go into effect which would go back to a cut in what those providers are being paid for those same services almost 10 years…

I am glad with that assurance that won't happen, and I am sure they will be, too. While we won't know on the 15th whether they can run out of money by the date you mentioned, the middle of February, it is very possible that we will know by…

I do know they gave the House the ability to initiate spending bills and the President the ability to veto. In the context of how much money we are really talking about, the President added a 6.5 percent increase, and then the House-passed…

My view of that and most of our Members' view of that is that those 23 million people are not paying that tax this year, and so the idea that you have to replace that money to keep them from paying it next year is the fallacy of the PAYGO…

Well, that is absolutely true. And the money that we spend to defend the country every day is important and it is the primary responsibility of the Federal Government, and I agree with that.

We need to modernize FISA to keep up with changes in communications technology and the continually evolving tactics of our terrorist enemies. But rather than responding to this need, this legislation actually impedes the intelligence…

I appreciate that. I'd also say that I was heartened by the good work that Chairman Rangel and Mr. McCrery and others did on the Peru agreement, and certainly, I think I want to continue to reach out to you and the chairman and others…

I certainly agree with your observation about our veterans and the appropriateness of us taking the day on Monday to honor them. On that issue, we went to conference this week on two different bills, and my impression was, based on the…

I think it's clear that a significant majority of this Congress knew last year that we wouldn't have wanted this to happen. But for some reason we still apparently wanted to commit to spend the money that would occur if it did happen. So…

Americans can and do compete all over the world. They can and do compete successfully all over the world. And it's particularly important that we compete in our own neighborhood. Many of us, over the last several years, have begun to look…

the House passed the Military Construction- Veterans bill on June 15, over 140 days ago. The Senate passed a bill on September 6, sent it over to the House, and immediately appointed conferees. The minority appointed their conferees. But…

I think that my friend is right that there was a pattern that developed with the bill that included the Veterans bill that we didn't like. And so in the Congress that started in 2005, we tried to restructure that so that that would not…

Well, of course the stated goal of the majority earlier this year to move these bills one at a time would be my preference, and if Defense is not part of that conference report, it seems to me it's only one bill away from being done the…

We will be glad to continue work on that. And in regard to the failure to provide time on the Senate side, it seems to me that's a very interesting contradiction to our desire to provide time over here to change the bill. I will assure my…

Well, if we want to try to determine the motives of each other, which is, I suppose, what we do in this place, that's one thing. But you're the one that started that. What we were trying to do, I'll advance again, was to take the Veterans…

I do hope we can figure out a way to move them, again, particularly on the Military Quality of Life bill for veterans and for the families of people serving today, and for military retirees, I think it's about $18.5 million a day of…