Bill Pascrell: “working families from the Eighth Congressional District in the State of New Jersey elected me to solve problems, to work…”

“working families from the Eighth Congressional District in the State of New Jersey elected me to solve problems, to work together across the aisle and, specifically, to bring closure on issues such as campaign finance reform, environmental sensibility, and balancing the budget. Mr. Speaker, it is ironic that the majority is bringing a resolution to the floor to demand that the President submit a second budget when the majority has yet to present their first budget. Where is the Republican budget? Section 301(a), the Congressional Budget Act, requires that the Congress complete action on the budget resolution on or before April 15. Since the majority became the majority party in the House, the conference agreement on the budget resolution has not cleared both houses until June, 2 months after the deadline. Over the last 10 years, the House Committee on the Budget marked up the budget resolution well in advance of the April 15 deadline. Six out of the eight times it was controlled by the Democrats. In 1992, the Committee on the Budget markup was on February 27. In 1993 the markup was on March 10, and March 3 in 1994. This budget resolution is behind schedule for the third year in a row under Republican leadership. And there is a simple reason why Republicans have not released the budget.”