The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“GOOD FAITH” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S2597-S2598 on March 2, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
GOOD FAITH
Mr. REID. Mr. President, as a majority, we have done a good job of showing that the Senate can act in a reasonable manner. We have had amendments. We have shown good faith by allowing amendments on basically everything. This bill that is now before us is a big bill. I know there will be speeches given about how big it is. But keep in mind what is in the bill. Last year, we couldn't work anything out with the President, so we funded everything except Defense, Homeland Security, and military construction with a continuing resolution that took us until March 6. March 6 is upon us. The reason I am talking about the bill being the size it is, remember, it includes appropriations for the year dealing with Agriculture--extremely important--Commerce, Energy, Treasury, Interior, Labor, legislative branch--I was chairman of that subcommittee for a long time, and very important items are included in that--State Department. Of course, there are lots of other things that go into those. I have just mentioned the main name on the bill that is in the omnibus.
This process has been as open as anything could be. The full committee was open. Each one of the subcommittees had full input by all ranking members. It is time we move on to get into a regular process where we have not 9 bills but 12 bills that we bring before the Senate. That is what I intend to do.
As we have shown good faith, I think the Republicans have shown good faith. Although there are some amendments I wish they had not offered, that is how things work out here. On this bill, we have to make sure that reciprocity is also the same. We have shown good faith. I have had a lot of people come to me and say: Look, this bill is so important. Let's not have any amendments. Let's go ahead and get 60 votes and get it out of here. I think that is not the right thing to do. As I have announced, there will be amendments. As much as we can, we are not going to have a bunch of amendments pending because we are working on a very short timeframe, and we will work as closely as we can with the minority. We have two terrific managers of this bill, Senators Inouye and Cochran.
I was told Senator McCain was going to be here to offer an amendment. I was told he was going to offer an amendment and that we would have a CR and not the omnibus. That is a reasonable amendment to offer. I think that is appropriate. We will need a little time to talk about that. But I think that is appropriate. I believe in reciprocity and good faith. I had a conversation the other day with the Republican leader. He didn't mention who was going to offer the amendment, but both of us thought there would be such an amendment offered.
I look forward to completing this legislation. We need to do it by Thursday. I hope we can work our way through this. If it is the CR amendment--and I have no other information other than staff told me walking in that that was going to be the case--I think that is an amendment that will take a little bit of time for us to discuss. There is not much to look at. It is probably one line long. I think I have made myself clear. This is an important piece of legislation for our country. It is an important piece of legislation for the Senate so we can get back to our regular appropriations process. We have done a good job of cutting, significantly, Government-directed spending. I have been on the record some time ago saying we have a constitutional obligation to make sure we are involved in how the country spends its money. We shouldn't leave how it is spent to bureaucrats in big offices here in Washington, made up of people who I don't think know my State as well as I do.
We should have a good, stout debate on a number of issues in the next few days and hopefully move on to other matters next week.
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