Arlen Specter: “when the Senator from North Dakota says there was ``almost no difference,'' $2 billion, I respectfully disagree with him…”

“when the Senator from North Dakota says there was ``almost no difference,'' $2 billion, I respectfully disagree with him that that means ``almost no difference.'' Regrettably, around the Senate Chamber, and the House Chamber, we think $2 billion does not amount to very much. The question I have for the Senator from North Dakota is in a context where the 2-year budget was turned down and there had been a 1-year budget prepared by the committee, as articulated by the Senator from North Dakota who was the chairman last year and who specifies differences between the House and the Senate where there were different assumptions made and many differences; that is what a conference is about. If the Senate had passed a budget, having failed on a 2-year budget, and had gone back and brought to the floor a 1-year budget with differences, that is what a conference is about. Why didn't the distinguished Senator from North Dakota, then-chairman of the Budget Committee, proceed to get a budget, take it to the House, and have a conference so we could have a budget?”