Chuck Schumer: “I thank my colleague for the time. Again, I want to compliment the Senator from Vermont and agree with him and hope we…”

“I thank my colleague for the time. Again, I want to compliment the Senator from Vermont and agree with him and hope we can move the bill forward. But, Mr. President, I am here to talk about the budget. All afternoon I have heard my colleagues on the other side of the aisle repeat over and over that we haven't passed a budget. As my friend from North Dakota knows, that is clearly not the case. Last August, President Obama signed a budget for this year that reduces the deficit by $2 trillion. It is called the Budget Control Act. It was passed 74 to 26, bipartisan, with many Republicans voting for it on August 2, 2011. Despite what we hear on the floor today, after the Budget Control Act passed, several Senate Republicans, including Senators Grassley, Alexander, and Collins, admitted it constitutes a budget. So watching this debate on the Senate floor is a sort of through-the-looking-glass experience. We are watching our colleagues call for something they acknowledge already happened and they supported. This is nothing more than petty politics. We should be focused on jobs and the economy. Instead we are forced to spend hours debating something that already happened. It doesn't make sense. But let's put that aside for a moment and look at the extreme plans we are voting on today. The only real differences between the four Republican budgets--the only real difference between the four Republican budgets--is how quickly they race to end Medicare as we know it.…”