Jim Inhofe: “let me say to Senator Hatch and his remarks, there has never been anyone I can recall who has been so relentless in…”

“let me say to Senator Hatch and his remarks, there has never been anyone I can recall who has been so relentless in trying to stop all this deficit spending whom I associated with and served with in the Senate. One month ago we were standing here trying to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and Senator Hatch was right in the middle providing leadership. We wanted that to be a reality. My activity with the balanced budget amendment goes all the way back to the 1970s, when then-Senator Carl Curtis was trying to preratify an amendment to the Constitution. I was a State Senator at that time, and we were the first State to preratify the Constitution. So we know it has been a real up-hill battle. It has been very difficult. I think it is important, though, and one thing that hasn't been said in this debate is why we have this deficit and why we have this debt. It is important for people to understand, and I know most people don't. But to overly simplify it a little bit: The debt is the responsibility of the President. It is not the Republicans, it is not the Democrats, it is not the House, it is not the Senate; it is the President who puts together a budget every year. We have a President who put together his first budget, and the Obama first budget had a deficit of $1 trillion; the second budget he had in 2011 was $1.3 trillion; then, last year, his budget deficit was $1.1 trillion.…”