Frank Lautenberg: “we are coming to ``H'' hour here. That is not happy hour, as far as I am concerned. I can think of other words that…”

“we are coming to ``H'' hour here. That is not happy hour, as far as I am concerned. I can think of other words that start with an H--like horrific, horrendous, horrible, hurtful--but I won't use that vocabulary. I will just infer it. The occupant of the Chair has been in government for some time, and I am sure he has seen it from a different perspective. We see good people sincerely believing in what they are doing at odds with one another, in such contrasting views that it is hard to reconcile the difference of what is and what isn't the reality. This is no suggestion of prevarication or fabrication. I am not talking about that. I know there is genuine belief. I differ sharply with my friends and colleagues on the other side regarding this budget. Few people have I more respect for than the chairman of the Budget Committee, Senator Domenici. Boy, we have some scraps. They are really good ones. The fact of the matter is, he is a bright guy. He understands a budget as few here do. He is one of the few Senators who has to teach his staff what it is all about. That is intended to be a joke. The rest of us do it differently. I hope the public doesn't take that too seriously, Mr. President. The fact of the matter is Senator Domenici very well knows ``budgeteering,'' but I think in this case it is fair to say there is an error in the approach. I think the policy as proposed by the budget conference report is fiscally dangerous.”