Senate Proceeding on Mar 10th, 2011 :: 5:56:40 to 6:05:20
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5:56:27 to 5:56:48( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. a senator: i suggest the rescission of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inouye: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. inouye: today, our nation faces a very difficult political landscape when it comes to

5:56:40 to 6:05:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Daniel Inouye

5:56:49 to 5:57:09( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: addressing the major challenges to our country, such as unemployment and the deficit. the american public is demanding that the house and senate work with the president to address these concerns. i believe the american people's understandable and growing

5:57:10 to 5:57:31( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: concern over the national debt is shared by every member of this body, but in order for the congress to address our fiscal crisis, we must fix our broken budget process. today with fiscal year 2011 nearly halfway, as a result of

5:57:32 to 5:57:52( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: the congress' inability to finish its work, the federal government is still operating on stop-gap funding designed to avert a government shutdown. and, madam president, this is no way to govern. continuing resolutions make it difficult for federal agencies

5:57:53 to 5:58:14( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: to perform their duties. as the secretary of defense, mr. gates, has stated very clearly, "operating under a c.r. places a great burden on the department of defense." the same can be said for every federal agency. our failure to act responsibly makes the everyday functioning

5:58:15 to 5:58:36( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: of government more difficult and less responsive to the needs of the american people. moreover, continuing resolutions make a mockery of our constitutional responsibility to allocate taxpayer funding wisely

5:58:37 to 5:58:57( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: putting the country on budgetary autopilot is simply unacceptable. it is well past the time to cast aside the blistering campaign rhetoric of the fall and find the need to compromise. madam president, many new members of this body were elected on the promise of a

5:58:58 to 5:59:19( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: return to fiscal responsibility. i would suggest that returning to regular order in our budget process is a necessary component to achieve this goal. the appropriations committee produces 12 individual bipartisan spending bills, but when the congress fails to act

5:59:20 to 5:59:41( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: on them through regular order, we wind up with a trillion dollar omnibus bill or trillion dollar continuing resolution that cedes the power of the purse to the executive branch. neither the most liberal nor the most conservative member of this body should prefer an omnibus or

5:59:42 to 6:00:02( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: c.r. over the regular order in our budget process. several weeks ago, i had the opportunity to sit down with the new chairman of the house appropriations committee, congressman hal rogers of kentucky, to congratulate him on his new position.

6:00:03 to 6:00:23( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: during our discussion, we both agreed that the congress needs to reestablish regular order in the appropriations process. both chambers need to pass its bills and allow us to work out our differences in conference. madam president, i believe that if we adopt this approach, we

6:00:24 to 6:00:46( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: can do our part to help this nation regain its economic health. the first step in the process is the adoption of a budget, to provide the framework for appropriations bills. the house must step up to the plate with a budget that is workable. it cannot hide behind vague

6:00:47 to 6:01:07( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: rhetoric and be a temporary spending caps. it should not insist upon irrational cuts that would devastate the everyday lives of the american people. likewise, it is imperative that the senate do its part in moving a budget through a responsible

6:01:08 to 6:01:33( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: and regular order process, including the timely adoption of a budget resolution. if a budget resolution is not adopted by early may, the appropriations process is delayed every week of delay further diminishes our ability to finish our work prior to the

6:01:35 to 6:01:56( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: end of the fiscal year. in recent years of, appropriations bills have been held hostage as members offered amendments knowing that they would not pass or the time needed to complete 12 free standing bills slipped away and by september we had abandoned any hope of finishing all 12

6:01:57 to 6:02:19( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: bills, as the calendar simply did not give us enough time. we democrats must recognize that regular order cannot exist without bipartisan cooperation. last year, despite the lacks of a budget resolution, the committee completed almost awful

6:02:20 to 6:02:40( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: its work -- almost all of its work completing the appropriations bills in a timely manner. however, gridlock on the senate floor eliminated any further process. if a more open amendment process for relevant amendments will enable these bills to move

6:02:41 to 6:03:03( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: forward, we should be open to such an approach, even if that means taking some uncomfortable votes. this chamber is split 53-47. both sides need to give a little bit and in so doing it is my hope that we can get the bipartisan appropriations

6:03:04 to 6:03:25( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: process back on track. certainly, no member of this body wants to explain to his or her constituents why we have failed yet again to responsibly fund the government, or ceded our constitutional authority to the administration, or even why we were unable to work together

6:03:26 to 6:03:46( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: responsibly to avoid disastrous government shutdown. madam president, we must find a way to accomplish the task that the constitution has assigned to us. to do this, we need a budget resolution. we need the house to send over appropriations bills in a timely

6:03:47 to 6:04:07( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: fashion. we need floor time, and we need a willingness to vote on amendments. without these four things, there is no doubt in my mind that i'll be standing in this chamber in late september yet again seeking passage of a continuing

6:04:08 to 6:04:28( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: resolution in order to avoid shutting down the government. madam president, the house and the senate need to find a way to work together to pass our bills under the regular order. to send them to the president, this is the only way we can restore discipline to the budget

6:04:29 to 6:04:49( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: process. it is the only way we can maintain our constitutional responsibility to determine our taxpayers' dollars are spent. and, madam president, it is truly the only way we can avoid repealing the catch-all spending

6:04:50 to 6:05:13( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: bills that none of us want. quorum. the presiding officer: the

6:05:14 to 6:05:19( Edit History Discussion )

Daniel Inouye: clerk will call the roll.