the presiding officer: are there any accepts in the chamber wishing to vote or to change their vote? the ayes are 62, the nays are 35, and the nomination is confirmed. accept senator i move to lay it on the table. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. under the previous order the president shall be notified of the senate's action and the senate will return to legislative session. the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 84,

h.r. 2918, an act making appropriations for the legislative branch for the fiscal year if ending september 30, 2010 and for other purposes. mr. reid: madam president, there will be at least one more vote today. members are advised. senator nelson should be here momentarily to start managing the legislative branch appropriations bill. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mr. nelson: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be vitiated. i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. nelson: madam president, it is my understanding there is an amendment already at the desk. the presiding officer: that is correct. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nebraska, mr. nelson, proposes an amendment numbered 1365.

mr. nelson: madam president, i rise today to present the fiscal year 2010 legislative branch bill. i want to start by thanking senator murkowski and her staff for help in putting this bill together. i'm very grateful for her support on this subcommittee. this was truly a bipartisan effort from start to finish. i thank her. i note that her health is improving because her leg is improving and she is getting places on her own now. this bill funds the salaries of the very dedicated public servants who support the legislative branch of government. the legislative branch is home to not only all of us here in the senate and house but the capitol police, the library of congress, the architect of the capitol, the government accountability office, the government printing office, congressional budget office, office of compliance and the

open world leadership center. in crafting this bill, it was our firm belief that the legislative branch should lead by example funding only the most critical needs of our agencies and being good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars. this proved to be quite a challenge when we were presented with the budget requests that reflected a 15% increase over the fiscal year 2009 enacted level. however, after several hearings, many meetings, and countless hours of staff negotiations, i'm proud to say we did exactly what we set out to do in writing this bill. the bill before us today totals $4.6 billion which is a 4.7% increase over the current year. now, the bill includes house-related items solely considered by that body which total $1.475 billion. it's important to note that the senate legislative branch appropriations bill which did

not include house-related items over which we had no control represented only a 3.3% increase over fiscal year 2009. and was significantly below the budget request. if you include the $25 million that g.a.o. received in the stimulus bill, then this is only a 2.4% increase over current year funding levels. the fiscal year 2010 bill provided $934 million for the senate which is an increase of 4.3% over the current year. this funding will provide for annual salary and operating increases for senate offices, the senate sergeant at arms, the secretary of the senate, and other agencies that support the operation of the senate. the bill includes $331 million for the ca capitol police, an 8%

increase over current year including $15.4 million to fully implement the merger of the library of congress police with the capitol police providing seamless security throughout the entire capitol complex. the bill also provides for ten additional civilian positions to help resolve management issues including the constant increase in the demand for overtime. the committee did not provide the 76 new officers requested in fiscal year 2010 but does direct g.a.o. to work with the watch toll police to ensure they're getting the most efficient use of their nearly 1,800 officers currently on board, by far the biggest this force has ever been. the architect of the capitol is funded at $445 million. that is a decrease of $18 million or 4% below current year. the amount includes $48 million

in deferred maintenance projects including $16.8 million for continued work on asbestos abatement and structure repairs in the utility tunnels. madam president, i'm happy to say that the utility tunnel work is on schedule and significantly below original cost estimates. the bill also includes over $14 million in energy and sustainability projects across the capitol campus. the lie beer of congress fund -- the library of congress funding totals $638 million a 4% increase over the current year which includes $8.5 million for technology upguides to allow for increased digitalization of the library's collections and full funding for the digital talking book for the blind project. the government accountability office is funded at $553.6 million, a 4% increase over

country year and provides all salary and inflationary increases for g.a.o. current staff level. the government printing office is funded at $147 million, which is a 4% raise over current year. allowing for the continued implementation of g.p.o.'s federal digital system and other technology upgrades. the congressional budget office is funded at $45 million, a 2% increase over the current year. combined with the $2 million included in the supplemental, c.b.o. will have adequate funding and f.t.'s needed to perform the critical work associated with health care spending, the current financial crisis and global climate change. the office of compliance is funded at $4.4 million, an increase of 8% above current year to cover inflation nature

changes to allow the office to hire an occupational safety and health program supervisor. and, last but not least, the open world leadership office is funded at $14.4 million, which is a 4% increase over the current year. madam president, i believe that the bill before the senate is sound, prudent, and fiscally responsible, fakin fake taking t the calculations that i have given, it is a 2.4% over the current year with those calculations. i encourage my lesio colleagueso support its passage. thank you, madam president. ms. murkowski: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: thank you, madam chairwoman. before i begin, i'd ask unanimous consent that three individuals from my staff -- catit, kimberly, be allowed to

be on the floor during the debate on this appropriations bill. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: madam president, i rise this afternoon in support of the legislative branch appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010. the chairman of the subcommittee, senator nelson, and i have worked collaboratively in this process of putting the bill together. i thank him for that. i think we had some real substance in our hearings and spent the time, energy, the focus that we needed to on these matters regarding this particular appropriations. when combined with the house items, the bill before us totals $4.7 billion, and while this is an increase of 5% over the current year, the bill that we reported out of the committee represented less than a 3% increase over fy2009, as the chairman has said. in fact, 2.4%.

and i would argue that those who say we need to keep our appropriations bills within the range of inflation, we're probably there at just -- at 2.4% increase. we can't, within this body, control the amounts that the other body may provide for its own operations, but the amounts for the senate and the other legislative branch agencies that are controlled in this bill -- controlled very closely, especially when we compared this with the average of 15% increase that was requested by the legislative branch agencies. i think we worked very hard to take the requests that came before the committee and -- and really pear them down to what was -- and really pare them down to what was appropriate, what is necessary. now, both senator nelson and i are new to the appropriations committee. and i am very glad that we were able to have these very good and

substantive hearings with all of the legislative branch agencies. we discussed a variety of challenges before the legislative branch. we have worked well together and have been consistent in our efforts to eliminate unnecessary spend, tighten ow belts, and help-- --tighten our belts and help ensure that the legislative branch is a model for the rest of the government. if we stay on schedule, we'll be able to get this bill enacted prior to the beginning of the fiscal year. it is a good start to the appropriations process. i'd like to highlight just a few areas, adding onto t what the chairman has mentioned. the bill funds those projects that address the most serious risks to safety and health such as repairs within the utility tunnels that underlie the capitol complex and projects that remedy deferred maintenance in our buildings. if we don't address the maintenance backlogs, the price tags, we know, will just increase down the road.

the bill continues the architect of the capitol's efforts to improve energy efficiency with over $14 million in funding designated for this purpose. within the brother o library of, we add money for infrastructure. for about a decade now there has been no increases to i.t. within the brother of congress and yet most of the use -- within the library of congress and yet most of the users are library of congress i.r.s. this was the highest priority of our brairn of congress, mr. billington. this investment will ensure the millions of people who access the library through its web site will be able to find what is it is that they're looking for. similarly, within g.p.o., we funded the final increment for updating g.p.o.'s -- government printing office's -- web site to ensure government publications can be easily accessed and searched. also, the bill provides the final increment of funding to

complete the merger of the library of congress police into the capitol police. this project was initiated by senator bennett when he was chairman of the subcommittee and has been promoted by each of the successive chairs and ranking members to improve security of the capitol complex. finally, there is a directive in the bill for a report by the government accountability office of a study of capitol police staffing and overtime. senator nelson and i both share the concern that we right-size the capitol police and we control overtime spending. we recognize that security is absolutely paramount, but effective management of the agency is equally as important. again, i want to thank the chairman, senator necessarily sornings for his efforts, those of his staff, my staff, in putting this bill together. i'd like to also thank the full committee chairman, senator inouye, and ranking member cochran in getting us to the floor today. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. mr. inouye: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. inouye: madam president, today the senate begins its

consideration of our annual spending bills, and we start with the legislative branch appropriations bill. madam president, i'm pleased to announce to my colleagues that, as of this moment, the appropriations committee has reported out four appropriations bills. it may please you to know, madam president, that all of these bills -- legislative, homeland security, commerce, and interior -- passed the committee unanimously, and all of the bills represent a bipartisan approach. and the bill before this body deserves the support of every member of this body. it provides for the essential services to fulfill the functions of our legislative branch. it is a clean, free bill of unnecessary dividers. it is $300 million below the

amount requested and within the funding allocation provided to the supplement. madam president, i strongly recommend its approval, and may request unanimous consent that my whole statement be made a part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. vitter: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: madam president, i have a motion to commit with instructions at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from louisiana, mr. vitter, moves to commit the bill, h.r. 2918, to the committee on appropriations with instructions to report back to the senate making the following changes: one, amend the amounts appropriated in the bill so as to report back a bill with an aggregate level of appropriations for fiscal year 2010, not more than the level enacted for fiscal year 2009. , which while not reducing

appropriations necessary for the security of the united states capitol complex. mr. vitter: madam president, i'll outline my motion to commit shortly, but, first, by way of introduction, let me say how disappointeed and strufted i am that another amendment i had proposed for this bill was consistently blocked out all of this week and no vote, no consideration was allowed by the distinguished majority leader. that amendment, madam president, which had been filed sometime ago, which i had worked hard to get before this body, would have passed again a repealed of the automatic pay raise provision for members of the senate and members of the u.s. house currently in the law. madam president, we're in the midst of a very serious recession. american families all around the country are really hurting. many have been laid off, lost

their jobs, through investment losses in the stock market, many others are scared to death about their future. and yet all of us, as members of congress, live under this system where we get an automatic pay raise virtually every year, a pay raise on auto pilot without any need for a proposal or a bill to be offered, to be filed, to be debated, or voted on. that really is a very, very offensive system to millions of american families, particularly so during this serious recession. madam president, i'm just very sorry that the majority leader felt the need to work at every turn to block out any consideration of this amendment and certainly any vote on this amendment. we have a u.c. on this bill

before us. it contains amendments that are not germane to the bill. it contains amendments that have points of order against them. there's no legitimate way the majority leader can distinguish my amendment to those, except that he didn't want to deal with the issue. well, madam president, we already have dealt with it by passing a stand-alone bill through the senate, but of course to require the house to deal with it, we need to effectively attach it to another must-pass bill. and so that remains my goal, and my effort will continue, and i want to assure and reassure the majority leader that that effort will continue, and we will be talking about this more in the future. madam president, with regard to my motion to commit with instructions, it has a very similar theme, because this motion to commit would simply

send this appropriation bill back to the committee and ask that they restyle it so that it does not spend anymore money than we spent on legislative appropriations for the last fiscal year. madam president, that would constitute about a $76 million cut. that's not a huge amount of money in washington terms, but i think it would be the beginning of a huge and an important and an appropriate statement by this body. again, madam president, as i said, american families are hurting all over the country. they've been laid off -- there have been layoffs, job losses, tremendous investment losses, people's savings have whittled away down to nearly nothing in some cases. people who had retired counting on a certain future have seen that future disappear in front of their eyes. they don't have the luxury --

particularly now this year in this recession -- of any percentage increase, many of them. many of those american families are dealing with a huge income decrease. wouldn't it be reasonable and appropriate for us collectively to say, we're going to live by the same dollar amount as we did last year? madam president, consider that that amount last year was an 11% increase from the year before. so that amount that congress passed last year was an 11% increase, about triple the rate of inflation, done in the middle of this serious recession. so that was a significant increase last year. shouldn't we temper that? shouldn't we make a statement that we're going to live with the same dollar amount as last

year? i would also note, madam president, that under the exact language of my amendment, number one, we would give maximum flexibility to the appropriations committee about how they would find those modest savings of $76 million; and, number two, the one thing we would protect -- the one thing we would tell them not to touch -- was spending which is essential for security of the capitol complex. so tha there would be no chance- not that it would be the desire of the appropriations committee -- but there would be no possibility of sacrificing anything to do with security of the capitol complex. so again, madam president, this is a pretty simple and a pretty basic suggestion, and i think a pretty commonsense one.