Lincoln Chafee: “Mr. President, Senator Breaux and I, along with 19 of our colleagues, are offering this alternative, centrist budget…”

“Mr. President, Senator Breaux and I, along with 19 of our colleagues, are offering this alternative, centrist budget resolution in the hopes that we can provide a bridge between the two parties. We strongly believe, and I will challenge anybody here to say something to the contrary, that this plan we have represents the only hope of obtaining a balanced budget. Why do I say that? Because Democrats will oppose the Republicans' proposals. And Republicans already have shot down the Democrats' proposal, the administration's proposal, the President's proposal. That leaves us in exactly the same place we were in at the end of last year, having done little to address the real reforms to put this country's fiscal house in order. The plan that the centrist coalition, which is the name of the group that Senator Breaux and I have the privilege of leading, is presenting today, offers a way to reach a consensus on fixing this problem. It balances the budget in 7 years using the Congressional Budget Office assumptions. We do not have any gimmicks here. We do not have any sunsetting of tax cuts. We do not have any triggering of additional income in the outyears.”