Don Nickles: “I will be happy to urge my friends and colleagues in the House to pass more appropriations bills, but frankly, they are…”

“I will be happy to urge my friends and colleagues in the House to pass more appropriations bills, but frankly, they are reticent to do so because the Senate is working off much different numbers than the House. Always before, when we passed a budget, ultimately the House and the Senate worked off similar numbers, the same gross numbers. So there is a reason the House is reluctant to pass bills because they are going to pass them at lower figures than the Senate, and they feel as if that puts them at a disadvantage when they go to conference. I do not know that I agree with that. I know Senator Harkin was on the floor wanting to pass Labor-HHS. The House has not passed Labor-HHS. I never believed constitutionally that we had to wait on the House. Some people have made that argument, but that is not constitutional. The Senate does not have to wait on the House of Representatives to pass an appropriations bill--a tax bill, yes, not an appropriations bill.”