mr. inouye: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. inouye: the amendment offered by the senator from south carolina -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. inouye: i ask that the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inouye: i thank you very much, madam president. madam president, the amendment offered by the senator from south carolina is a misguided attempt which would turn over the power of the purse to the executive branch. and, madam president, it won't save a penny for the deficit. it will allow unelected bureaucrats who have no accountability to voters to determine how federal tax dollars are expended instead of the congress. despite the protestations of a few senators and an active media campaign spurred on by well financed so-called watchdogs, this amendment is a solution to a problem that does not exist. madam president, for the sake of my colleagues who may still want to support a moratorium on earmarks, let me point out where we are at this moment. it says retaking the

mr. inouye: i have 12 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. therefore, i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inouye: madam president, so often when members come to the floor to offer simple amendments and describe their noble objectives, it sounds too good to be true. madam president in my years in the senate i found that when things are too good to be true, they usually are. madam president, the amendment from the senator from alabama seeks to constrain discretionary spending at levels agreed to in last year's budget resolution. he says that it his -- that his intent is to cap spending for the next four years. now we all understand that discretionary spending is likely to be frozen this year as the president has proposed. but, madam president, this proposal goes way beyond what the president of the united states has recommended. the president has proposed a modified sp

mr. inouye: mr. president, this amendment does one thing and does another. it says it will help control federal spending, but it leaves mandatory spending off the table. when that is the area of rampant growth over the past decade. it also circumvents the deficit-reduction commission which was just created a few days ago, to look at both spending and revenues by prematurely cutting discretionary spending. it would require appropriations committee to cut more than $100 billion from national defense. so i urge my colleagues to once again reject this amendment. mr. president, the pending amendment deals with matters within the budget committee's jurisdiction. i raise a point of order that the pending amendment violates section 306 of the congressional budget act of 1974. mrs. mccaskill: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mrs. mccaskill: pursuant to section 904 of the congressional budget act of the 1974, i move to waive all applicable sections of those acts for purposes of my amendment and ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding o

mr. inouye: mr. president, the senate has already rejected this flawed plan twice in the last two months, and this amendment hasn't gotten any better in the intervening time. mr. president, if we adopt the sessions caps, we will have to gut the president's agenda for discretionary spending, including education, jobs and homeland security. this amendment still fails to address the real causes of our deficit and national debt. it is far less than the president had requested, and i urge my colleagues to once again vote no. mr. president, i raise a point of order that the pending amendment violates section 306 of the congrsionaludge act of 1974. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: mr. president, how much time is left on this? the presiding officer: all time mr. sessions: pursuant to section 904 of the congressional budget act of 1974 and section 4-g-3 of the statutory pay as you go act of 2010, i move to waive all applicable sections of those acts and applicable budget resoluti

mr. inouye: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. inouye: mr. president we find ourselves debating an amendment that we voted down just last month. proponents make the rescissions sound like good policy when you listen to them but mr. president, members need to understand that this amendment causes harm to our national and international security and to our economy. first, amendment proposes re -- first, the amendment proposes resitiondzrescissions throughout the agencies that are completely random and based on subjective assumptions. second rescinding discretionary funds that have been available for more than two years will jeopardize our national defense our homeland security and the well-being of our citizens. this is simply responsible governing. for example mr. president a ship is not built in a year or two years. a hospital is not built in a year. and if they're not built in a year these funds are rescinded. this amendment proposes to cut billions in funding that the congress voted on and agreed to provide just months ago. this amendment is

mr. inouye: mr. president, i rise to speak in opposition to the amendment submitted by the gentleman from colorado, mr. thune. mr. president, this amendment cloaks itself in the guise of fiscal responsibility, but nothing could be further from the truth. the amendment would rescind funding from the american recovery act, the so-called stimulus bill, to pay for the costs of program increases for small business. mr. president, we can all agree that we should do more to support small business, but it's nonsensical to rescind funding from the recovery act which is also creating jobs. i understand all too well that some on the other side of the aisle have argued that the stimulus bill was a mistake. but, mr. president, the facts are proven just the opposite. just last week, the congressional budget office, the c.b.o. released a report on the impact of those stimulus funds which have already been spent. the congressional budget office report notes the extremely beneficial impact from this act. the report s