Frank Lautenberg: “There is a sense of the historical significance of what it is that we are about to do. It is not simply the…”

“There is a sense of the historical significance of what it is that we are about to do. It is not simply the accomplishment of having put in place a balanced budget. It goes further than that; that is, to note that this agreement has been developed, if I might use the word ``hammered'' out, by bipartisan cooperation. My friend and colleague, the chairman of the Budget Committee, Senator Domenici, and I and others, of course, labored long and hard to help present the views of all of our colleagues into an understanding and a package that would be acceptable as a consensus product. So we are here at this moment, and within 1 hour it is believed that we will have passed this reconciliation bill and will embark upon the work of passing the second reconciliation bill which will complete the task. I think we have set some records here this year, not only because we will have achieved a balanced budget, which is the best belief of all Members here who will be supporting this, but I took a moment, I say to Senator Domenici, to check on where we stand with our appropriations bills. There were 9, I believe, that have been completed, and perhaps a 10th one ready. That is quite fantastic, not yet August and having done those. I want to say to all of my colleagues, I am proud that we were able to get this job done under fairly stringent conditions.”