On the recordMay 20, 2010
First of all, the Budget Committee, like all authorizing committees, has the option, at the outset, when the budget resolution is considered, to set aside a reserve fund in anticipation of some piece of legislation coming along that may cost more. We did not do that. We did not know what that would be. That is what we are talking about. If we had spent $1, since we had zero in terms of a budget allocation for our committee, $1 over it would have provoked a potential budget point of order. So the fact that the committee has spent money in this bill on a major restructuring of our financial structures of the Nation should not come as any great surprise. But, secondly, it is somewhat ironic the only reason we find ourselves at the point of $19.7 billion over is because--at the request, I might point out, of my good friends on the minority side--we eliminated the upfront prepayment cost of the $50 billion we had in the bill.
