On the recordDecember 16, 2011
we seem to be heading to an agreement today. At this point, the House appears to be ready to vote on the conference report on the appropriations bills for the rest of the fiscal year, which would be until the end of September of next year. I think this is good. We came to an agreement in August called the Budget Control Act. It was a 10-year commitment to lower spending, lower our deficits. It required a cap in each of the next 10 years that would be a down payment on our debt, would lower the deficit and lower the debt. The Omnibus appropriations bill, obviously, because it has so many different agencies in it, rather than each separate agency bill going forward as we have done normally in the past in the Senate--because it has so many, there are people who are going to disagree with parts of it. There is no getting around that. The military construction, of which I am on the subcommittee and have chaired it in the past, is part of this bill. So are many of the other bills that are very important for the functioning of our government. However, the appropriations bill sticks with the agreement we all made. In August, there was a lot of negotiation on how we deal with the debt. To be honest, I did not think it was enough. Many of us did not think it was enough. But we have not been able to come to terms between the two Houses of Congress and with the President on how we can do more and get the votes to do it and get the President to sign the bill.…
