Political Quotes

“Madam President, in 1974, Congress passed a new Budget Act. It was revolutionary and comprehensive. It was supposed to streamline how Congress appropriates money to fund the business of the Federal Government every year. Unfortunately, now 45 years later, we know that bill was an unmitigated disaster. Only four times in the last 45 years since that Budget Act was passed has Congress funded the government through the appropriations process before the end of the prior fiscal year--four times. Today is the end of July. We are about to leave Congress today, hopefully--if our Senate today gets these bills passed. Then we will go back to our States, and we will work in August. We heard a lot of people talking yesterday about what they were planning to do in their States. It is a busy month. I wish it were a vacation month, but it is not--nor should it be--given the things we have to do today. When we come back in September, there will be 10 working days left before the end of this fiscal year, September 30--10 working days. As I stand before this body today, this is not a partisan observation. As I stand here today, we have not appropriated $1 for next year's budget to run the Federal Government of the United States of America. That is an indictment. It is an indictment of the process, an indictment of the Members, and an indictment of the fact that we have no consequences by not funding the government by September 30--not one.…”