Trent Lott: “gee, this sounds awfully familiar. I have heard it year after year after year. ``Oh, we can't cut that. Oh, we can't cut…”

“gee, this sounds awfully familiar. I have heard it year after year after year. ``Oh, we can't cut that. Oh, we can't cut that. We'll get it later. You can't take it from here. We are going to use it somewhere else.'' We go through this exercise with these budget resolutions. I will tell you I voted for the Budget Impoundment Act and, over the years, I have voted for some budgets and against others. But I am beginning to wonder what does the Budget Committee really do? What is it worth? Maybe we ought to abolish the Budget Committee, and say the Budget Impoundment Act was a good idea, but, gee whiz, it did not work. What are we doing this exercise for? We are told, ``It does not make any difference. The appropriators are going to do what they want to anyway. We cannot direct them.'' If that is what we are going to do, we ought to have real reform and deal with the macro number, the 17 accounts, I believe, a one-page deal and be done with it. And the difference is, if we send the Exon-Grassley amendment or leave it like it is and it goes to the Appropriations Committee, my God, it is going to be Armageddon; they are just going to take it all out of defense.”