George Voinovich: “to my colleagues who have known me and who have heard me speak on spending issues before, what I am about to say may be…”

“to my colleagues who have known me and who have heard me speak on spending issues before, what I am about to say may be very shocking, and it shocks me as well. I am going to vote for this appropriations bill. It contains only a 3-percent increase in total spending--can you believe that; that is mandatory and nondiscretionary domestic spending, a 3-percent increase--and a 2.4- percent increase in discretionary spending. All of us should congratulate the President for sticking to his guns and keeping his promise that he was going to restrain spending while he was President. We also should thank Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens and his colleagues on the committee who have done a good job in putting this package together. It is time for us to move on. I would first like to comment on why we are here. Why are we here today? We would not be here today if we had passed a budget last year and had not wasted so much time debating bills on the floor of the Senate that should have been taken care of properly in committee.”