Al Franken: “I would like to echo what so many of my colleagues have already explained: that voting on a budget today would serve no…”

“I would like to echo what so many of my colleagues have already explained: that voting on a budget today would serve no purpose. We keep hearing from our friends on the other side of the aisle: ``We haven't passed a budget in a thousand days.'' While this is technically true, this is a technicality without a difference, and ignores one essential detail: we passed something else which, for all intents and purposes, accomplishes exactly the same thing as a budget the Budget Control Act of 2011. First let's look at what a budget resolution actually is. According to the Congressional Research Service, a budget resolution: sets forth aggregate levels of spending, revenue, and public debt. It is not intended to establish details of spending or revenue policy and does not provide levels of spending for specific agencies or programs. Instead, its purpose is to create enforceable parameters within which Congress can consider legislation dealing with spending and revenue. A budget resolution is a document intended to guide Congress, and never goes to the President for his signature. The Budget Control Act actually went much further than a budget resolution--it actually set spending caps for the next 10 years and put them into law--a law signed by the President. The spending caps alone produce $900 billion of cuts.…”