Judd Gregg: “let's remember what this amendment does in the context of the LIHEAP issue. This amendment will add $2.9 billion to the…”

“let's remember what this amendment does in the context of the LIHEAP issue. This amendment will add $2.9 billion to the national debt and pass that debt on to our children in order to pay for energy costs which are being incurred today. The correct way to do this is the way we proposed in the Senate, as Republicans, which is to pay for it. That is what we will do in the conference. There is already $1 billion additional money for LIHEAP in the conference, and it will probably go up. The difference between those dollars and what is being proposed in this amendment is we actually pay for it. It is inappropriate to go to this number, which is a 130-percent increase in the LIHEAP program, when spending on oil is estimated to go up by 28 to 30 percent or maybe even 40 percent. Increasing the program by 130 percent when the oil costs are going up 30 to 40 percent is inconsistent on its face. It is especially inconsistent when one is taking that bill and giving it to one's children and their children's children so they end up paying for today's oil costs rather than their oil costs 2 or 3 years from today or two or three generations. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired. The yeas and nays were previously ordered. The question is on agreeing to the motion. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk called the roll. Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senators were necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mr.…”