Frank Lautenberg: “I join with Senator Domenici in offering the amendment. It implements a provision in the bipartisan budget agreement…”

“I join with Senator Domenici in offering the amendment. It implements a provision in the bipartisan budget agreement that relates to the budget process. Without the support that comes from this, I think the work that had been done would be relatively penetrable in so many ways that we would not be able to come up with the final target that we are shooting for, and that is to make certain that we have the deficit down to zero at the end of 2002, and then we have preserved the caps that were placed there to achieve that objective. The amendment extends several provisions in the Budget Enforcement Act that otherwise will expire and preserves the existing system for enforcing the fiscal policies established by the Congress. Madam President, current law establishes an overall cap on the amount of spending that Congress can appropriate each year, but discretionary spending--I am referring to the programs appropriated annually by the Congress, including the entire gamut of Federal Departments and Agencies and most of their day-to-day operations. By contrast, discretionary spending does not include entitlement spending, Social Security, Medicare, which flows without the need for annual congressional action. Under current law, total spending on discretionary programs cannot exceed the prescribed limits. However, these limits expire in fiscal year 1998, and the amendment would extend these limits to 2002 in accordance with the budget agreement.”