Frank Lautenberg: “I hope it is clear to everybody who is listening that this is a cut taken without regard for the consequences. It…”

“I hope it is clear to everybody who is listening that this is a cut taken without regard for the consequences. It doesn't matter where it comes from. It can come out of Medicare, based on what we are hearing. It could come out of education. It could come out of COPS. Pull in the FBI, cut the number of FBI agents, cut safety programs, cut Coast Guard--cut, cut. It is like the harvest at the end of the growing season--just cut it. The only problem is we have other obligations. Maybe the Senator from Colorado thinks the principal obligation is similar to running an accounting office such as H&R Block, or something such as that. We cut regardless of the consequences. Take down the respirators. Take down the blood transfusions. If the patient dies, the patient dies. We can't have that. Forgive me, but everybody knows that this is a political idea whose time should never come. We cannot plan on eliminating the debt without establishing where it is that the funds are going to come from to pay down that debt.”