Kent Conrad: “I didn't make that determination. That was made in a higher pay grade than mine. The budget we had done in the committee…”

“I didn't make that determination. That was made in a higher pay grade than mine. The budget we had done in the committee was a 10-year budget, and the budget in the House was a 5-year budget. We had used the more conservative CBO assumptions, and they used the Office of Management and Budget assumptions. We went to a 2-year budget because we thought that had the best prospects of securing the votes necessary to actually have a budget blueprint in the Chamber. We did get 59 votes. We did get a unanimous consent agreement from the appropriators to stick to that number. For other reasons there was disagreement with House appropriators outside of the budget with respect to priorities. I say to my colleague, no question, we would be better off to have a budget. That is a fundamental responsibility. It did not happen last year for lots of reasons. I have tried to enumerate some of those. I personally am committed to the budget process. I think it is critically important. I agree with the Senator with respect to that observation.”