Roy Cooper: “I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Unfortunately, this is one of the most partisan weeks in Washington as each side…”

“I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Unfortunately, this is one of the most partisan weeks in Washington as each side presents its own budget. I urge Members to weigh these budgets very carefully. Unfortunately, we have very little time to do so. The entire debate for the Republican and Democrat budgets is some 4 hours. There will be many alternative budgets presented. The one that I am most interested in, the Simpson-Bowles-endorsed budget, will come up later tonight, which is a big schedule change since it hadn't been expected until tomorrow. We will have a total of 10 minutes to explain the only bipartisan budget that will be offered. There are six or seven budgets being offered, but there is only one that is bipartisan. There are many excellent features in the Democratic budget and in the Republican budget, but there is only one that has the support of folks on both sides of the aisle. I hope that Members choose carefully even in this, the most partisan of weeks, because it's almost a David versus Goliath situation when you have 10 minutes versus 4 hours. I hope that Members will look at the details of these budgets and will realize that hidden in the details are lots of massive changes to lots of massive programs.…”