Judd Gregg: “I rise today basically to speak about another issue, and that is a letter which I have received as chairman of the…”

“I rise today basically to speak about another issue, and that is a letter which I have received as chairman of the Budget Committee and which was sent to the majority leader, the Speaker of the House, and the chairman of the Budget Committee on the House side by the leadership of the Democratic membership of the Senate and the House--Congresswoman Pelosi; John Spratt, who is ranking member on the House Budget Committee on the Democratic side; Senator Reid, who, of course, is the Democratic leader; and Kent Conrad, who is the ranking Democratic member of the Budget Committee. The letter asks that we indefinitely postpone reconciliation, reconciliation being the mechanism by which we address the entitlement spending and tax policy here at the Federal level. It is an outgrowth, of course, of the budget process. Now, the letter itself, if I can look at it, although I can hardly see it--I wish they would send these letters in larger fonts so those of us getting older would not have to take out our glasses to read them. But, in any event, the letter itself is structured in a way to assert a number of items, boldly assert items which essentially are inaccurate. In fact, the boldness of these inaccuracies is such that it would be humorous if they were not going to, I am sure, become part of the nomenclature of the left in the country and, indeed, be carried forth by the echo chambers, such as National Public Radio, which speaks for the left.…”