Judd Gregg: “I would simply make the point, in response to the discussion about this bill and the budget, there is no way anybody…”

“I would simply make the point, in response to the discussion about this bill and the budget, there is no way anybody with a straight face can represent that this bill is fiscally responsible in the context of the budget. When this bill left the Senate, it was at $285 billion. It is now at $300 billion. This bill has $18 billion worth of gimmicks in it. The tax years are changed for corporations to pick up money. There is an attempt to adjust programs so some basically disappear after a certain number of years on the theory that then they would not score, knowing full well that those programs are going to be continued. We also have a situation where this bill violated the pay-go rules of the House and would violate the pay-go rules of the Senate, to the extent they are ever enforced around here, if we had passed the Senate budget. The irony is that this bill comes to the floor before the budget, which was voted on and voted in favor of by the Democratic membership. That Democratic budget is violated in this bill.”