David Thomas: “I think it is great for us to get started with our work on the floor. We have been working, of course, in organizing our…”

“I think it is great for us to get started with our work on the floor. We have been working, of course, in organizing our committees, drafting our bills, getting prepared--as a matter of fact, probably earlier than usual, despite the trial that is going on here. So it is good to get started. I am pleased that our party has also an agenda. We will be talking about Social Security, of course. I think a great many changes need to be made there to ensure that this program continues, not only for those now drawing benefits but for those who will in the future. We will be talking about education, seeking to get Federal help directly to the classrooms. We will be talking about strengthening the military, which I think is very important and must be done. I think tax reduction and tax reform is very high on our list of priorities. Certainly, we will be working on that. Health care, of course, will be part of what we talk about. And each of us, in addition to those, will have other issues. So I rise to talk a moment this morning about biannual budgeting. It is a real pleasure for me to join the chairman of the Budget Committee, Senator Domenici, and chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Thompson, to introduce a bill that will create a 2-year budgeting appropriations process. We worked long and hard on that issue. I have been working on it for some time, largely because it is my belief that the current budgeting process is broken.”