Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
March 23, 2001 -- Page: S7

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I wanted to speak for a few moments as if in morning business to talk about the budget and what the distinguished Senator from New Mexico is proposing.

I was privileged to be in a briefing to learn what the committee is looking at. It was discussed earlier on the floor that the bill is going to come straight out of committee.

I am pleased that is going to happen because I would like to have just as much say in the budget as would any Member of the Senate. We will have 30 or 50 hours of debate. We will have plenty of time to discuss our priorities. But with this evenly divided Senate, more and more, all of us are going to have the opportunity on the floor to have our input rather than not have it come to the floor and bog down the process.

I am very pleased with what we are hearing. I am very pleased that we are bringing the budget up on an expedited basis because I think we need to move swiftly. Our country is looking at an economic downturn. Many people think it is a recession. I hope it isn't. But, nevertheless, I think action is needed. I think action on behalf of the American people is warranted at this time.

I think setting the budget and determining what our priority expenditures are going to be and looking at giving tax relief to American workers at this time is even more important than it was when we first introduced the idea because many of us believe that having this huge budget surplus sitting in Washington, DC, is certainly not good economic policy and it isn't good fiscal policy.

It is time for us to make sure the money that is sitting in Washington, DC, in excess of what is needed for the running of our Government be put back in the pocketbooks of the people of this country.

I am very pleased we are working on an expedited basis. I am pleased we are going to take up a budget. I am pleased Senator Domenici, the leader of the Budget Committee, is pushing right now, right this minute, for an immediate tax relief plan--something that people will see is going to come. They will know for sure that is going to come, and that it will come, hopefully, on an expedited basis.

I am very proud the Budget Committee is moving forward in this fashion. I am so proud of our leadership. I hope we can work with the other side of the aisle so all of us will have equal input in the 30 to 50 hours of debate that we have on the budget resolution so we can establish our priorities; so we can preserve Medicare; so we can have real Medicare reform to include prescription drugs; so we can have the new added expenditures that we know we are going to need to upgrade the quality of life for those serving in our military; and so we can increase spending on public education to make sure every child has a quality public education, which is the foundation for democracy.

I think we will have those added expenditures and we will have tax relief for the American people.

If we can take up this budget resolution a week from Monday, we will do it on an expedited basis.

I am proud of Senator Domenici and the leadership of the Budget Committee. I am proud of our leadership and their working with our President to make sure we have tax relief for hard-working Americans.