Cord Byrd: “First of all, he is my friend and nothing as far as I am concerned will ever mar that friendship, but I have to say that…”

“First of all, he is my friend and nothing as far as I am concerned will ever mar that friendship, but I have to say that my blood boiled last Monday evening when I learned that the House Republican leadership, with the support of Senate Republican leaders, I believe, had decided to put a placeholder amendment into the Defense appropriations bill that could be used in conference to increase the $7.4 trillion statutory debt limit perhaps to a level of $8.1 trillion, the level needed for 2005. That placeholder language meant that the House and the Senate conferees would be free to slip in language to increase the statutory debt limit by an untold amount, maybe $690 billion, maybe more, without either body of Congress ever having to vote in public on the matter. This is a tough vote. I can understand how the Republican leadership in the House, the Senate, and downtown, the White House, would like to see that limit slipped into this bill in conference.”