Roy Blunt: “My only thought, as we are standing here finishing up this discussion, is that as people hear this, they may wonder if…”

“My only thought, as we are standing here finishing up this discussion, is that as people hear this, they may wonder if Senator Alexander and Senator Blunt are talking about how the Federal Government can spend the money, and that being the most important thing. If we are going to get spending under control, of course, it is the most important thing. It is not a desire to spend money, it is a desire to debate how we spend the money, to plan how we spend the money, and give as much notice as we can to the country, to the States, and to the people who are trying to make job-creating decisions. We want to show them the American government is going to do the right thing and is going to plan for a future that makes sense rather than fail to plan and stumble into a future that continues to just do the wrong things. We have seen the debt of the country almost double in 6 years. Surely, that is enough indication that what we are doing is not working and more of the same is not the answer. Getting back to the real responsibility of the Senate to do its job--the House is doing its job. They are going to take some criticism about the programs they said should be cut or redefined. We need to do our job. That is the way this process has to work. It is disappointing that it is not working. We are going to come back in all likelihood in September with bad choices that will be made. One is to shut the government down.…”