Kent Conrad

Let me just respond to that first. Look, we are not suggesting the budget process stop. No. We are saying there ought to be a point of order, a 60-vote point of order against new spending initiatives, unless for defense or homeland…

Would the chairman and ranking member be willing to hold hearings in the coming months focusing on the threats associated with Russia's tactical nuclear stockpile? Furthermore, would the chairman and ranking member be willing to join me in…

I just want to assure him of a couple of things. No. 1, on this notion that we are asking for a different standard of measuring the cost-benefit test, that is true. And the reason is that the standard that applies in the law has no…

I must say, however, some of the rhetoric I heard yesterday I think was unfortunate. Talk about a coup in the Senate or in the United States-- that is reckless talk. That is inappropriate talk. What has occurred here is a negotiation on…

I want to stand and acknowledge the leadership of the Senator from Montana on this issue and thank him publicly on behalf of the people I represent and the other people affected in other States for the diligence of the Senator from…

We cannot very well have it both ways. You can't, on the one hand, decry not having budget discipline and a budget, and, on the other hand, oppose those very provisions. That is what this vote is about. It is a budget and it is budget…

I say to my colleague, the Senator from Oklahoma, that the Senator from Oklahoma argues against himself. He gives advances as a reason to oppose putting it on this measure, that it will never pass both Houses, and that a budget has to pass…

Killed people. Now that we know a significant part of the planning by the al-Qaida network is bioterrorism, we know that a significant part of the planning of the al-Qaida network is a ``dirty'' nuclear device to be dropped on this…

It not only closed down a major office building in the Senate but closed down post offices and closed down businesses.

The hard reality is that we have to make choices. We ought to reform the estate tax. We ought to increase the amount of exemption. We should not wait for 2007 and 2008. We ought to do it now. Under my proposal, we go to $3 million from $1…

The amount that the Senator refers to is not over the budget. Every penny of the money in the farm bill is within the budget. Does he acknowledge that?

The budget I offered that passed the Senate Budget Committee fully funded defense for 2003 and 2004. After that, it increased defense by the rate of inflation and set all of the additional defense spending aside that the President has…

Let me, first, thank the distinguished Senator from New Mexico, the ranking member of the Budget Committee. I think he has done something very constructive because it kind of leads us to the point of all the decisions that need to be made…

This amendment is to provide the fiscal discipline that I think we all seek, at least the framework for it. This amendment extends the supermajority enforcement of budget points of order. It extends the Senate's 60-vote Budget Act points…

In conclusion, I agree absolutely with what motivates the sponsors of this amendment. We need budget disciplines. I will offer those as a package, all of the budget disciplines--every one; in fact, a strengthened pay-go provision--after we…

NAHASDA points to local control and local solutions to address the housing crisis facing so many in Indian country.

Native Americans face some of the worst housing conditions in the United States, and overcrowding is common.

I am pleased that in 1996, Congress passed NAHASDA, which allows tribal housing authorities greater autonomy to design housing plans that suit their needs.

The Senator would like to know your thoughts on whether the act should be amended to provide authority for an emergency reserve fund.

If you liked the Freedom to Farm policy, then this is the amendment for you. This is a Freedom to Farm policy warmed over. Freedom to Farm had a shelf life of about a year. We were promised under that policy permanently high farm prices…

The Senator from Arizona asserts that we are forcing these planes on the Air Force. Was the Senator from Kansas ever contacted by General Jumper or the Air Force and asked to support providing these planes to the Air Force?

Over the next 3 years, the difference between the Republican stimulus plan and the Democratic stimulus plan is that the Republicans would add $140 billion more in deficits with their stimulus plan than with ours.

I favor the railroad retirement legislation. I strongly favor it. But I just as strongly support this amendment to knock out directed scorekeeping because I think it misleads our colleagues and our countrymen. Directed scorekeeping would…

I conclude by saying to my colleagues that we need to write the farm bill now. We need to use the money that is in the budget resolution now. No one should be under any illusion that this money is going to be available next year. Most…

I say to my colleagues, if this farm plan were to pass, the vulnerability of America would increase geometrically. This is the most radical farm plan ever endorsed by any administration in my memory. I am 53 years old. I have followed farm…