On the recordJuly 7, 2011
I will. I also asked the Senator about his view of this budget situation. The Presiding Officer and I were secretaries of state together some time ago and have known each other a long time. I am glad to have him in the chair as we have this discussion. I don't think the House, until the last Congress, ever failed to pass a budget. I am not sure the Senate didn't always pass a budget until the last Congress, though there were times when the House and Senate could not agree. But at least each side had a plan. There is an old adage that when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It sure looks to me that is the trajectory we are on now. Members are more and more talking about maybe we will have another continuing resolution this year. That will be the appropriations process because we have no plan. Of course, as the Senator pointed out, as a person who knows as much about the budget process as anybody in Washington, we passed the April 1 deadline, then we passed a May 1 date, and then a June 1 date, and now we passed the July 1 date. We are up to that 800th day since the Senate passed a plan or had a plan of any kind. We are waiting for a plan to move forward with the work of just funding the government. Clearly, that is not acceptable. We see the economy continuing to wait for some signs of certainty from the Federal Government, certainty about where our budget is going to be, certainty about our tax structure, certainty about regulations and utility bills.…
