On the recordMarch 10, 2011
Today our Nation faces a very difficult political landscape when it comes to addressing the major challenges to our country, such as unemployment and the deficit. The American public is demanding that the House and Senate work with the President to address these concerns. I believe the American people's understandable and growing concern over the national debt is shared by every Member of this body. But in order for the Congress to address our fiscal crisis, we must fix our broken budget process. Today, with fiscal year 2011 nearly halfway over, as a result of the Congress's inability to finish its work, the Federal Government is still operating on stopgap funding designed to avert a government shutdown. This is no way to govern. Continuing resolutions make it difficult for Federal agencies to perform their duties. Our failure to act responsibly makes the everyday functioning of government more difficult and less responsive to the needs of the American people. Moreover, continuing resolutions make a mockery of our constitutional responsibility to allocate taxpayer funding wisely. Putting the country on budgetary autopilot is simply unacceptable.
