Bill Lee: “I wish to thank my colleague, the Senator from Wyoming, chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr. Enzi, for allowing me, as…”

“I wish to thank my colleague, the Senator from Wyoming, chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr. Enzi, for allowing me, as the vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, some time on the Senate floor to discuss the budget. Our budget process is important, and it has long been in a period of neglect. It needs reform. That is what I am here to talk about today. There are so many areas that are affected by our budgeting process or, at least, that should be. In fact, it is difficult to conceive of any aspect of the Federal Government that couldn't be or shouldn't be addressed through the budgeting process. When we look at the budget process, it is important for us to focus, to one degree or another, on the Budget Act of 1974. This is an old law. Forty-three years in statute has not exactly improved it. It hasn't matured into something better. In other words, rather than a piece of art that has appreciated in value over time, this is something more akin to the 8-track tape player that you might have purchased in 1974 to go inside your Ford Pinto, which would explode upon impact. This is something that didn't really improve in the 43 years since it was passed, especially not the way we have followed it or, better said, the way we have utterly failed to follow it. One of the best ways to describe the budgeting process, prescribed by the Budget Act of 1974, is that it is nonbinding. It is less legislation than it is legislative fiction.…”