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The Focus of Today's Session will be
the FY2005 Budget Resolution

11:00 P.M.

In another show of bipartisan support, Senator Leahy and Senator Dole have come to agreement on their amendments regarding child nutrition funding.  They have offered a joint amendment that was accepted by unanimous consent.  Click here for a text of Senator Leahy and Senator Dole's amendment. 

10:35 P.M.

For the first time today in a roll call vote the Senate accepted the Levin amendment by a vote of 52-43. 

10:30 P.M.

Unable to come to an agreement on all the remaining amendments, the Senate is now finishing a vote on Senator Levin's amendment to transfer $1.7 billion for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Homeland Security Grants. 

10:05 P.M.

In an effort to finish up the remaining work on the Budget Resolution this evening, Senator Nickles and Senator Conrad are encouraging other Senators who have amendments pending to work with staff to find ways to either agree on the amendments or withdraw them.  The Senate has agreed to amendments by Senators Enzi and Cantwell, Senator Clinton and Senator Crapo by voice vote.  Text of these amendments will be made available online as soon as they can be obtained. 

9:00 P.M.

The Senate agreed to Senator Murkowski's amendment by a voice vote.  Senator Dodd is now speaking on his amendment, S.Amdt.2762.  This amendment pertains to after school programs. 

8:55 P.M.

Finishing the vote on Senator Daschle's amendment, the Senate did not agree to adopt, by a vote of 42-54.  Senator Murkowski is speaking about her amendment that would increase the budget for the Indian Health Services by over $200 million. 

8:40 P.M.

The Senate agreed to two amendments by voice vote, an amendment proposed by Senator Mikulski on and a second amendment by Senator Coleman regarding Pell Grants. The Senate did not agree to Senator Lieberman's amendment with a vote of 40-57.  The Senate is now voting on an amendment from Senator Daschle that would increase funding for the Indian Health Service by $6.12 billion.

8:00 P.M.

The Senate has conducted two roll call votes in the past hour, voting not to adopt the Byrd amendment with a vote of 43-52 and not to waive the Budget Act with respect to the Bingaman amendment, 43-53.  The Senate is now voting on Senator Lieberman's amendment that would raise taxes by $13.621 billion to create a reserve fund of $6.8 for homeland security programs. 

7:10 P.M.

By a vote of 43-53 the Senate did not adopt the amendment proposed by Senator Lincoln.  Senator Byrd is speaking on his amendment to provide responsible restraints on discretionary funding while providing adequate resources for education, veterans, homeland security, and other critical domestic priorities and fully offsetting the cost by closing corporate tax loopholes, improving tax enforcement, and reducing tax breaks for the top 1 percent without affecting middle-class taxpayers.  Senator Byrd's amendment can be viewed here.  The Senate is now voting on this amendment. 

6:55 P.M.

The Senate did not agree to the Harkin amendment with a vote of 32-64.  The Senate is now considering Senator Lincoln's amendment to provide $60 billion over five years for greater health security for working Americans and their families through a combination of public and private efforts to expand quality, affordable health insurance coverage and cut health care costs by eliminating abusive tax loopholes.  For text of her amendment click here. 

6:35 P.M.

By a vote of 43-53, the Senate did not agree to the Lautenberg amendment.  Senator Harkin is now offering an amendment that would raise funds for public health by raising the Federal Excise Tax on cigarettes.  For text of Senator Harkin's amendment, click here. 

6:15 P.M.

The Senate did not agree to adopt Senator Dorgan's amendment by a vote of 41-55.  Senator Lautenberg has just finished speaking about his amendment regarding Superfund.  His amendment would reduce debt and require the industries responsible for producing products that contaminate toxic waste sites and industries who are exempt from liability for such contamination, to help pay for the cleanup by reinstating the Superfund polluter pays fees.  For text of this amendment, click here. 

5:55 P.M.

With a tally of 96 Yea votes and 0 nay votes, the Senate agreed to the resolution on Madrid.  Senator Ensign is speaking against Senator Dorgan's amendment, that would restore $1.1 billion in funding to COPS, Byrne grants, and Local Law Enforcement Block Grants around the country.  For text of the Dorgan amendment, click here.  The Senate is now voting on this amendment. 

5:40 P.M.

The Senate is voting on Senate Resolution 319 to express the sense of the Senate in regards to the tragedy experienced in Madrid. 

5:30 P.M.

By a vote of 41-55 the Senate voted not to adopt Senator Sarbanes' amendment.  Senator Frist and Senator Daschle are offering their condolences to the country of Spain and to the victims of the terrorist attack that occurred in Madrid this morning.  The two Leaders are offering Senate Resolution 319 to condone the terrorist attack and to offer the Senate's support for Spain. 

5:10 P.M.

The Senate has begun the opening part of the Vote-a-Rama and has completed the first of ten roll call votes on amendments to the budget resolution.  On Senator Boxer's amendment, the Senate voted 41-53 not to adopt the amendment.  The Senate is now voting on Senator Sarbanes amendment regarding $400 million in grants that would go to assist firefighters.

3:30 P.M.

Senator Nickles is commenting on Senator Kennedy's amendment regarding Pell Grants.  He claims that the budget already includes increased funding for Pell Grants, and that there have been dramatic increases over the past few years.  

3:15 P.M.

Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia came to the Floor to express many of his major concerns with the Budget Resolution as put forth by the Bush Administration. He states that the Resolution does nothing to increase tax enforcement or close tax loopholes. It furthermore fails to meet the Federal government’s obligations to the nation’s children, veterans and law enforcement officers among other groups of people, in Senator Byrd’s estimation.

In reference to our nation’s security, Senator Byrd expressed his worry that we are not properly funding the police officers, firefighters, and paramedics all of whom he feels are critical to protecting our nation’s security. Another problem he expressed with President Bush’s leadership in matters pertaining to the budget is that while the President says we’re in an energy crisis on the one hand, he has proposed cuts to energy programs by 27% on the other hand.

Senator Byrd furthermore disputed the President’s assertion that cuts in discretionary spending are the only way to reduce the deficit.

1:45 P.M.

Senator Ben Nelson spoke briefly about the Administration's nomination of Tony Raimondo to be the head of an office that would help the nation's manufacturers.  Senator Nickles is now speaking about the schedule for this afternoon. 

1:30 P.M.

Debate on the budget has continued this afternoon and voting is expected to begin this afternoon on amendments.  Senator Lautenberg and Senator Jeffords have been speaking about an amendment to be offered regarding Superfund. 

12:55 P.M.

After Senators Nickles and Conrad had a brief debate about the time remaining in the debate, Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey came to the floor to speak about his amendment which would readjustment the budget resolution to reauthorize the Superfund Program. 

12:45 P.M.

Senator Don Nickles questioned whether it is the federal government's responsibility to be funding local police departments or whether it is the responsibility of the communities. Senator Kent Conrad is speaking in support of Senator Dorgan's amendment concerning COPS funding, questioning why others would want to cut funding for local law enforcement. Senator Dorgan followed Senator Conrad and is talking about national security and the threat of terrorism that faces our country, and the important role law enforcement plays concerning our security.

12:35 P.M.

Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota is talking about the funding for law enforcement programs and is voicing his outrage that the United States is funding law enforcement programs in Iraq while cutting funding for local law enforcement in the U.S.  He says he feels that this country takes our law enforcement for granted.

11:45 A.M.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas came to the floor to express his opposition to the Boxer amendment by stating that he feels it is a miscalculation and conflicts with the American principles of free markets. He is of the opinion that it would convey the wrong impression to the American people that the economy is “in the tank” and offers no opportunity to workers. He also drew attention to the benefits enjoyed by consumers when products are produced at lower cost and spoke of the vision of America as “a free market paradise”.

11:30 A.M.

Using a chart illustrating the Bush manufacturing job loss by state, Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut expressed his frustration with the fact that no matter what the economic circumstances seem to be, the Bush Administration continues to offer a single solution; cutting taxes. During his speech, Senator Dodd also referenced a front page article in the Washington Post which appeared on Tuesday, March 9th that outlined the adverse effects of outsourcing on a small community. Citing the significance of such a report appearing on the front page of a major national newspaper, Senator Dodd summarized the piece for his colleagues stating that the company, Travelocity, had recently announced that it will close its call center in Clintwood, V.A., to route more of its calls through India. This would result in job losses exceeding 250.

11:15 A.M.

Expressing their frustration at the lack of initiative taken by the Bush administration to comprehensively address the job loss phenomenon, both Senators Boxer and Sarbanes came to the floor at different points to speak of their concern regarding President Bush’s choice for the position of Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Services, a position purportedly created to assist the beleaguered manufacturing sector. The nominee, Anthony F. Raimondo, is the chairman and CEO of a Nebraska company that laid off dozens of American workers in 2002 while planning to open a factory in China.

11:00 A.M.

As the morning progresses, multiple Democratic Senators have come to the floor to offer their support to the Boxer amendment, including Senator Kent Conrad from North Dakota, the ranking member of the Senate Budget committee, who expressed his concern regarding middle-class, well-educated people who are either unemployed or under-employed.

10:45 A.M.

Senator John Corzine of New Jersey came to the floor to speak in support of the Boxer amendment by stating his belief that the amendment correctly addresses the question of whether we are using our tax system to generate jobs. He stated that in his own state of New Jersey he has witnessed dramatic job loss in recent years in such fields as the auto production industry, an industry that only ten years ago employed several hundred thousand workers. Senator Corzine emphasized that he is troubled not only by the number of unemployed Americans (3 million jobs have been lost in the private sector alone)  but also by the reduction of real wages which occurs when laid-off workers are unable to find comparable jobs to the ones they have lost.

10:00 A.M.

Senator Barbara Boxer of California is currently speaking on the floor about her amendment, #2783 which seeks to protect and create American jobs. Utilizing a series of charts, Senator Boxer is illustrating the alarming record of job loss in the last couple of years as well as the erred predictions of job growth put forth by the Bush Administration. Creating a $24 billion job reserve fund, the amendment would among other things designate funds for a manufacturing extension program, a new manufacturing tax credit, and a small business health insurance tax credit. She proposes to pay for the provisions of this amendment by reducing tax breaks for companies that move offshore as well as reducing tax cuts for people earning over a million dollars.

9:30 A.M.

The Senate will convene this morning to resume consideration of S.Con.Res.95, the FY2005 Budget Resolution. The Budget Act limits debate on a budget resolution to 50 hours, including time taken for quorum calls but not including time taken for votes. In addition, the debate on an amendment is limited to two hours.  At the end of the fifty hours, amendments and motions may still be voted on; however, they may not be debated.