Lincoln Chafee: “4 months ago Senator Breaux and I asked a small group of our colleagues to get together on a bipartisan basis to discuss…”

“4 months ago Senator Breaux and I asked a small group of our colleagues to get together on a bipartisan basis to discuss how we might reenergize the stalled negotiations on a balanced budget. At that time neither the White House nor the congressional budget negotiators were making the compromises necessary to reach a final balanced budget agreement. You may recall, Mr. President, at that time there could not even be agreement on what economic assumptions were to be used as the starting point. In advancing our efforts, Senator Breaux and I hoped to demonstrate to the Republican congressional leadership and to the White House, the administration, that a group of Senators--Democrats and Republicans, from the middle of the political spectrum--were willing to set aside partisanship to reach a balanced budget agreement. We strongly believe that the single most important action that this Congress can take for the benefit of our Nation is balancing the budget.”