Victor Fazio: “the Senate passed its budget resolution over 2 months ago. Under the rules of the House, we should have passed a budget…”

“the Senate passed its budget resolution over 2 months ago. Under the rules of the House, we should have passed a budget resolution at least by the 15th of April. So we come to the floor very late today, and one would think at this late date, we would be prepared with a tight, consensus budget. In fact, that is not the case. We have a $24 billion black hole in this budget resolution the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich) will present today. We double count cuts in food stamp administration, we double count cuts in veterans spending. In fact, unless we can find alternatives to using these cuts twice, we will pass a fraudulent budget or end up cutting these programs for more than any of us intend. The New York Times said of this resolution when it came to the Budget committee that ``it fails the basic integrity test and that the House should vote it down, demanding instead a budget that is real, not rigged.'' I agree, Mr. Speaker. We are not ready, even at this late date, with the Committee on Appropriations waiting in the wings to deal with a budget resolution that just does not add up. Let us protect Social Security and not spend any of the surplus until we have found a solution to the baby boom bulge and bring the Social Security fund into balance.”