Jim Nussle: “Mr. Speaker, this is a bill. Now, the gentleman has a long and very stellar career in this Congress and I know the…”

“Mr. Speaker, this is a bill. Now, the gentleman has a long and very stellar career in this Congress and I know the gentleman knows full well the difference between a resolution, a proclamation, and a bill. Because a bill can become a law. That law can be changed, the gentleman is correct, but it is a law and it is a law that must be followed by the Treasury. It is a law that must be followed by the Congress. It is a law that must be followed by the President unless or until that law is changed. And that law can be changed in the fall, the gentleman is correct, but it will be a change of law and a change of priority. It will be the juxtaposition between spending and Social Security. If they want to spend more money, they can. If the Congress wants to spend more money, it can. Certainly it can raise taxes. It can dip into Social Security. It can decide not to do any debt reduction. But we are deciding today that that choice must be made instead of waiting, as the gentleman from South Carolina pointed out, until the very end of the day on the very last legislative opportunity to see if there is any money left over. We are saying it is a priority.”