On the recordMay 16, 2012
Mr. President, this budget proposal has the most serious mistakes I have seen in 26 years of dealing with budgets in this Chamber. This budget starts with an $8 trillion mistake on the size of the deficit. I have put up the calculation. This budget has Federal revenues of $27.5 trillion, budget outlays of $37.2 trillion, for a difference of $9.750 trillion. But it claims deficits of $1.750 trillion. That is an $8 trillion mistake. No. 2, it has a $5.7 trillion mistake with respect to budget authority. If we add up the individual budget function totals, they are $5.7 trillion less than the aggregate budget authority totals in what is being offered by the Senator. No. 3, this requires some committees to cut more spending than they have available to them in their resources. For example, the HELP Committee is instructed to save $2.7 trillion, and they only have $510 billion available to them to cut. This budget is shot full of basic fundamental mistakes. It should not even be considered as a budget on the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired. The question is on agreeing to the motion.
