Gerald B. H. Solomon: “Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, I want to welcome you to our annual rush to budget. You would not know that the…”

“Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, I want to welcome you to our annual rush to budget. You would not know that the congressional budget is one of the most important decisions that we are called upon to make around here, given the haste with which it is rushed through the House. The Budget Committee rushed through its markup last Thursday after barely a week's notice. This is the entire Federal budget for the coming year. That same day, the Committee on Rules notified Members to submit their amendments by noontime. In his letter to the membership last week, he said that the text of the budget would be available on Friday, March 4, at the Budget Committee's office in House Annex No. 1, the O'Neill House Office Building, Room 214. Mr. Speaker, I went there at noontime on Friday because I have a substitute budget myself, along with 25 other colleagues, which will present to this body a balanced budget for the first time in over 40 years. Mr. Speaker, the budget text was not available. I went back there at 5 on Friday, and it still was not available. I decided not to go home this weekend up to Adirondacks, where I live, and decided to stay here and see if I could get my hands on a copy of that budget. It was not available all weekend long. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not available to you right now as of 12:25 on this Monday, March 7.”