Heidi Alexander: “Is it not true that this request by Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, since it comes at a time…”

“Is it not true that this request by Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, since it comes at a time when many Americans and most Senators believe the level of the Federal debt is at crisis levels and threatens the security of our country and since it comes at a time when the Congress has not produced a budget and it comes at a time when there have been substantial increases over the last year and a half in the 38 percent of the budget that is discretionary spending, would the Senator from New Hampshire, who has long served on the Budget and Appropriations Committees, not agree that the first job of Senate appropriators is not to decide where to spend the money but to decide how much money there is to spend, especially this year when there is no budget?”