Kent Conrad: “I have concluded from the Senator's remarks today he remains undecided on the budget. No. I know the Senator is opposed.…”

“I have concluded from the Senator's remarks today he remains undecided on the budget. No. I know the Senator is opposed. He has done a very good job, I might say, of making his side of the case. The great thing about our country and about this institution is we have the right to come here and debate openly and even passionately our different views, and we have the right at the end of the day here to vote, and the majority rules. For 3 of the last 5 years, this country has had no budget. Hopefully, at the end of today, we will have put in place a budget for our country. That is our obligation and our responsibility, and I believe at the end of the day we will have accomplished this. Even though the Senator from New Hampshire and I disagree with respect to the specifics of this budget, we agree on certain very important things. No. 1, we agree on the importance of having a budget. No. 2, the Senator and I happen to agree--and you would certainly miss this if you were listening to the debate today--but the Senator from New Hampshire and I have strong agreement on the unsustainability of our long-term budget situation.”