Byron Dorgan: “I commend my colleague from Wisconsin. I agree with all he has described. I think this is a really important issue and…”

“I commend my colleague from Wisconsin. I agree with all he has described. I think this is a really important issue and increased food aid is critically important. So I appreciate him being here. I will speak for a moment about this $82 billion supplemental bill. Most of it is to restore accounts in the U.S. Army and other military installations or military organizations because that money was not in the budget. We had asked last year that it be put in the appropriations process so that it could be considered. We know that we are going to spend money in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the administration, year after year, does not put any money in for these accounts and then comes back with an emergency request later. It is a fiction that is being created. We know this is costing money every single month. I guess the reason to do it on an emergency basis is so that nobody has to pay for it. This is $82 billion not paid for, just emergency, stack it on top of the debt and say to the troops: Go to Iraq, serve your country, do your duty and, by the way, when you come back we will have the debt waiting for you, so you have served in Iraq and you can also come back and pay for the cost of that. That does not make any sense to me. We had a small provision on the issue of government spending when this bill was before the Senate, and I want to talk about it for a moment.…”