On the recordJune 28, 2010
I was surprised to see the Senate majority leader on Friday morning, in some of the harshest possible language, make the misleading assertion that Senate Republicans oppose the underlying policy in the tax extenders bill. His statement conveniently ignored the basic reason nearly every Republican for opposing the Democratic leadership's substitute. It was opposed to because it perpetuated the large deficit spending that has become the modus operandi of the Democratic leadership. The way to a bipartisan agreement is to follow the path set 1 week ago today. Just 1 week ago, the Senate passed a bill that extended the so-called Medicare doc fix for several months. The bill was fully offset. It was paid for. It did not add to the deficit. Every Republican Senator supported that fiscally responsible approach. I would like to make a couple of points on the process employed by the Democratic leadership. The majority leader's comments this morning are typical of the dysfunctional way that these routine extenders have been unnecessarily delayed by the strategy and tactics of the Democratic leadership.
