John Thune: “it is not enough around here to be against something. We have to be for something. What we have laid out here is our…”

“it is not enough around here to be against something. We have to be for something. What we have laid out here is our marker. It is what we believe in. The President told us what he believed in in his budget. Nobody around here wanted it, which is why we have all these alternative budgets. The alternative budget in front of us right now is different from the press's but, in a lot of respects, it is the same. It increases spending and raises taxes, cuts defense. That is what they are for. What we are saying what we are for in this budget is protecting 100 percent of the Social Security surplus, strengthening Medicare, providing $40 billion, and making possible a prescription drug program, retiring the public debt by the year 2013, paying it down, strengthening support for education, increasing spending on special-ed by $2 billion, and promoting tax fairness for families, farmers and seniors, getting rid of the marriage penalty, earnings limit for seniors, and also dealing with small business tax relief. These are the things that we believe in. And, also, making investment and rebuilding the defense system in this country, which has been badly neglected for the past several years. That is what this debate is about. We all get to vote. Everybody has their day. Everybody gets to talk about what they believe in. We have heard what they believe in. This is what we believe in. This is our budget. This is our statement of priorities.”