On the recordMay 16, 2012
I am embarrassed that we are not serious about this issue. Senator Thune and I served in the House together while the Senator from Alabama was leading in these budget fights in the Senate, and we had a budget every year. We didn't always every single year have a budget the House and the Senate could agree on, but the House always had a budget and the Senate always had a budget. We always complied with the 1974 Budget Act that says we have to have a budget. It says we have to have a budget by April 15. Frankly, we can't do our work without a budget. We can't get spending under control without a budget. We can't appropriate the way we should without a budget because the budget sets forth how much money we are willing to spend on defense and how much money we are willing to spend on military construction and how much money we are willing to spend on energy. If we don't have that, we don't have a starting place. I have all the respect in the world for our friend from North Dakota, Senator Conrad, but to be the chairman of the Budget Committee and to have to come to the floor and talk about what is wrong with the other budgets that have been produced when his committee hasn't produced one has to be frustrating for him, no matter how effective he seemed when he was talking about what was wrong with the people who had a plan.…
