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   Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, last week, the Senate passed a conference report which contained the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill, the legislative branch appropriations bill, and a repeal of the century-old telephone excise tax. This package was the first of the several ``mini-omnibus'' packages we will likely consider in the waning days of this Congress, and unfortunately, it demonstrates the fundamental problems associated with this type of legislating.

   I voted against this mini-omnibus for several reasons. The Senate never had the opportunity to even consider the Treasury-Postal bill on the floor. Many issues that are critical to Senators could not receive deliberation because of the unwillingness of the leaders to allow the Senate to fulfill its constitutional directive of deliberating on the crucial issues facing the nation. I will not review the entire list of neglected issues again. That recitation has occurred elsewhere, and I am confident we will hear more about them in the coming days.

   Suffice it to say, I deplore the procedure that permits unpassed appropriations bills to go right to conference. Other than the procedural irregularity, I opposed this conference report because it did not contain language to strike the congressional pay raise. It is unfathomable to me that at a time we cannot raise the minimum wage to bring a full-time worker above the poverty line, we once again raise salaries for Members of Congress. I have opposed any effort to raise congressional salaries in every year since 1994. I, and similarly-minded colleagues, were denied the opportunity to fully debate this issue. I cannot support this increase, especially under the current

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   Unfortunately, many initiatives I support were also included in this package. Among them is the repeal of the telephone excise tax, a revenue used originally to help fund the Spanish-American war. This three percent surcharge is among the most regressive taxes, and I was proud to be an early cosponsor of the effort to repeal it. In addition to cosponsoring the original legislation, I voted to repeal this tax when the repeal was offered as an amendment to the estate tax repeal.

   In a time of unprecedented surpluses, we must fix some of the inequities in the tax code. I am disappointed we have not managed to accomplish more. Once again, this is indicative of the overly partisan nature of Senate activity, and this partisanship has blocked fair tax reform. Nonetheless, I am pleased we have at least resolved the federal telephone excise tax, a reform which will save all Americans $51 billion over the next decade. I commend the major telephone providers for committing to pass fully these savings to consumers, and I once again regret that the unique and deplorable manner in which this Congress is fulfilling its responsibilities forced me to vote against this package.

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