Don Nickles: “I think the Senator from Pennsylvania is making a good point; I think we are entitled to ask questions. I don't think we…”

“I think the Senator from Pennsylvania is making a good point; I think we are entitled to ask questions. I don't think we are entitled to make statements. You asked several questions. Which part of this don't we like? If you read Director Ridge's statement, he said ``in next year's budget.'' Some of us do believe in budgets. Some of us do believe we had a deal with President Bush that said $686 billion on October 5, plus $40 billion. We have not even finished spending the $40 billion. Many of the things you suggested might well be in that $40 billion and are good causes. And ``budget'' is a key word. President Bush has said he believes there is ample money in the $686 billion and the $40 billion to meet the needs, things that are needed now. The items the Senator listed were not requested by Director Ridge. They might be in next year's budget, and they may have offsets from other spending to pay for those needed items. The budget is a key item. We should have a budget. We agreed to $686 billion, and then we added $40 billion on top of that, and then we did $15 billion for airline security. We did untold billions in victims' compensation. No one knows how much that will cost. So some of us are saying, wait a minute, let's slow down just a minute on the spending. Let's at least request it be requested by the President.”