Frank Lautenberg: “I want to respond to the analysis just given us by our good friend and colleague, the chairman of the Senate Budget…”

“I want to respond to the analysis just given us by our good friend and colleague, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Domenici. One thing about Senator Domenici, he is always direct. He always calls it like he sees it. And therein lie, perhaps, some differences. The expression, ``beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,'' is one that fits well, I think, because I see it quite differently than Senator Domenici. As we begin consideration of the conference report, for the benefit of those who do not know how we work here, the conference report is that report on the budget that has been agreed to by the House of Representatives, their Budget Committee people, and the Senate Budget Committee people. So I have to say at the outset that it is quite obvious that it is the majority's report we are looking at. Even though there are 45 Democrat Senators here, the fact is, with rare exception, all of the Democrats voted in opposition to the initial Budget Committee report and my view here is that we are probably going to see at least something as strong in opposition to the report that has now been agreed upon by the House representatives on the budget and the Senate representatives. Look at this. Here we have a budget resolution, one that says this is the way we ought to be spending our money. Mr. President, I remind those who are in earshot, this is a toothless tiger.…”