On the recordFebruary 17, 2011
I hope we will see action on this bill in the near future because we are on very delicate ground right now as we try to resolve the budget issues before us. We have two sides to the legislative branch--the House and the Senate. I think we have very different approaches to this deficit problem which is quite real. Both sides should be respectful of each other. But the messages I am getting via the media in terms of the language being used on the other side is: We don't really much care what the Senate thinks. It is kind of 'our way or the highway' type of rhetoric. The problem with this is that the type of cuts that are coming from the House side, from our Republican friends over there, a columnist tells us will cost 800,000 jobs to this Nation. Mr. President, 800,000 jobs will be lost if we do not make some changes to what they have done. As someone from a State that has a very tough economic climate and trying to climb out of this recession, that is just extreme. It is just extreme. Are we willing to make cuts? Yes. It is my belief both sides have to sit down and work this out.
