Sam Brownback: “Senator Kohl and I have a great deal of concern about getting some enforcement mechanisms put into place during…”

“Senator Kohl and I have a great deal of concern about getting some enforcement mechanisms put into place during reconciliation so that the budget agreement that is reached, if it is passed, is then enforced. It is in the reconciliation of the bill. That is what this amendment will do. We need to work together during reconciliation to enforce the targets that have been established. Madam President, this is a hopeful budget deal. We must hope that we do not have one slight downturn in the economy. We must hope that we did not make one flawed assumption, and we must hope that we don't have a national emergency. Madam President, no matter how well intended things may be, things don't always work out the way you hope they will. If any one of these hopeful events don't occur, then the budget won't be balanced. This is why Senator Kohl and I are offering this sense-of-the-Senate amendment. This budget deal was only made possible because the night before the agreement, CBO found an extra $225 billion in revenues. This deal assumes we will be able to achieve 72 percent of the savings in the last 2 years with more than half occurring in the last year. And because these numbers are so fragile and ever-changing at best, and because this budget promises to balance without much real fiscal restraint, it is imperative that we enact strong budget enforcement reforms to assure that the goals of this deal are reached.”