Frank Lautenberg: “this amendment is fairly simple. It would include Members of Congress in actions that result from missing budget targets…”

“this amendment is fairly simple. It would include Members of Congress in actions that result from missing budget targets that have been set forth under the Budget Act. It would say that if we miss the targets specified and a sequester takes place, reductions in accounts across-the-board, or on a specific account, that we would also include Members' salaries; that we would therefore cut, on a like proportion basis, the salaries of Senators and Congresspersons if the Congress failed to achieve its budgetary targets of limits on Government spending. The amendment would eliminate a defect in current law that excludes congressional pay from across-the-board cuts or sequesters when spending limits are exceeded. Mr. President, the central purpose of the pending bill, the congressional responsibility bill, is to create the same standards for Members of Congress as those applying to other citizens. The bill says that if we are going to impose laws on ordinary Americans, we are going to have to live up to those laws we in the Congress, we in the Senate, the same laws as we ask our constituents to obey.”