Frank Lautenberg: “one of the subjects that dominates the landscape these days, of course, is the budget. How we are going to function as a…”

“one of the subjects that dominates the landscape these days, of course, is the budget. How we are going to function as a society, what are the priorities, how will we finance these priorities and at the same time reach an objective that all of us care about, and of course that is getting a balanced budget by the year 2002. The President has presented a budget to achieve that objective. There are disputes about how we reach that objective, where do we cut further, what is the revenue stream. I, therefore, Madam President, use this opportunity to comment on what I see as the lack of a budget proposal from the Republican side, from the majority side. The President has put down a budget. We have talked about it in the Budget Committee. I am the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee. We have had numerous hearings as we explored various avenues, various parts of the equation with proponents and some opponents trying to dissuade us from proceeding with the President's budget. On the other hand, we have not seen anything yet from the Republican side, the majority side, I point out, Madam President. They have produced one piece of budget legislation this year, but it is not a balanced budget. It is the notion that we ought to be giving a big tax break, primarily devoted to the wealthy in our country.…”