Kent Conrad: “last Thursday, the Budget Committee reported this joint resolution which would suspend several budget enforcement…”

“last Thursday, the Budget Committee reported this joint resolution which would suspend several budget enforcement mechanisms. We reported unfavorably in the Budget Committee by a unanimous vote of 22-to-0. I am certain people wonder why we have a resolution that the budget committee rejected unanimously; how that can happen. It happens because it is required by law to bring this matter to the floor, even though the Budget Committee has unanimously rejected its elements. The reason for that is, whenever economic growth is below 1 percent for two consecutive quarters, the balanced budget amendment requires that the Congressional Budget Office should issue a low-growth report. They did that on October 31. The Senate is now required to consider this joint resolution which would suspend five budget enforcement mechanisms. Those mechanisms have elements as follows: points of order against tax cuts or spending that violate the budget resolution; the discretionary spending cap point of order; the point of order enforcing 302(a) and 302(b) spending allocations; the point of order against amendments to reconciliation bills, unless the amendments are deficit-neutral; and sequestration of discretionary and mandatory spending. All of those things would be tossed out and would not apply if we accepted this resolution.”