Trent Lott: “But you cannot be concerned here about Meals on Wheels, other Federal programs, and monuments being closed and, on the…”

“But you cannot be concerned here about Meals on Wheels, other Federal programs, and monuments being closed and, on the other hand, say, ``I am vetoing the bill because you do not give me all of the funding I want for the Census Bureau or for the National Endowment programs.'' This process could still go forward. My point is that the President vetoed these bills, in my opinion, on questionable grounds that put all of these Federal workers out of work. We passed one continuing resolution, I remind the Senator from Maryland, and I was involved in the discussions and suggested some language that helped move that continuing resolution through right before Thanksgiving, with the idea that there would be sufficient time for us to get an agreement on our budget before Christmas. It did not happen. We still do not have one. The President signed into law a commitment to have a balanced budget in 7 years, using CBO numbers or real numbers, which still has not happened. So the Congress, frankly, is concerned about sending another CR down there that would extend the time without knowing what the result is going to be. By the way, how much time does it take? The President has known for weeks, for months, that we were moving toward a balanced budget in 7 years, yet he did not really get engaged until actually right before Christmas. But it is time that we get an agreement. If we get an agreement, then all these other problems will fall by the wayside.”