Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this is an amendment which would facilitate passage of legislation that would deny pay to the personnel at the Office of Management and Budget for such time as they delay in the statutory requirement for the President to submit a budget for consideration by the Senate. As we all know, the law requires the President to submit a budget the first Monday in February, but the President has not done so 4 out of the last 5 years, nor will he do so this year reportedly until April. The problem with that is we will finish our work here this week, the House will finish their work, and the President has rendered himself entirely irrelevant. We know because the House passed the No Budget No Pay bill that it prompted the first budget in the Senate in more than 1,400 days, and that is good, that is progress. We would like to do the same now with the Office of Management and Budget to encourage the President to be relevant to the budget debate and require him to submit his budget on a timely basis. So I would ask my colleagues for their vote. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.”