Cord Byrd: “He continues to rely on ad hoc, poorly justified emergency supplemental requests that he expects the Congress to…”

“He continues to rely on ad hoc, poorly justified emergency supplemental requests that he expects the Congress to rubberstamp. As a result, there is virtually no debate about how our country is going to pay for these massive bills. Nobody seems to be minding the store when it comes to controlling the escalating costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The failure of the President to heed the repeated calls by the Senate to budget for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has resulted in more unnecessary spending that is hidden from public view. Until the President begins to include a real estimate of the cost of the wars in his annual budget, American taxpayers will continue to see billions of dollars spent without any true measure of accountability. The Senate has given its strong support to this amendment five times, and the President continues to disregard this direction by the Senate. I hope the 94-to-0 vote on an amendment that encourages the President to include the full cost of the wars in the budget finally, finally, finally gets his attention. I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.”