Jim Baird: “Last week, the House was kept in session until 3:00 a.m. waiting to vote on a budget that our side had not even seen and…”

“Last week, the House was kept in session until 3:00 a.m. waiting to vote on a budget that our side had not even seen and had no part in creating. That is bipartisanship, according to the Republican model. Then we could not consider the bill until this week because of two missing pages. Since then, those two pages have apparently been found, but there are three more important elements missing: Those are honesty, common sense and fairness. The resolution we are considering tonight is missing honesty. It does not include resources necessary to offer seniors a universal voluntary prescription drug benefit under Medicare. In fact, the budget resolution shortens the solvency of the Medicare program. George Bush and his allies in the majority party promised to include prescription drug benefits under Medicare over and over in ad after ad, yet this budget falls woefully and embarrassingly short. This budget is missing common sense. The budget proposes large increases in defense spending but the budget they put forward does not pay for them. In some instances, like paying our soldiers a decent wage, I fully support defense increases. But when it comes to $100 billion missile defense systems, that is not common sense, it is uncommon foolishness.”