On the recordApril 8, 2011
I think that everyone--or virtually everyone in the Senate--does not believe we should shut down the government. The question is, What are the negotiations? I am not privy to them and neither is anyone on this floor about what are still the sticking points. We all believe it is our responsibility to assure that government does not shut down and to come to an agreement because this is a 6- month bill--this is to the end of the fiscal year--that we are trying to negotiate. It is a very small part of the big picture, which is, we must get the deficit down, which is projected to be, under the current budget that has been put forward, $1.5 trillion. That is wrong. That is what we ought to be addressing. We ought to be looking at the numbers we can bring down so we start getting this budget deficit down so our debt starts coming down and we can see an economy that is thriving through private sector job creation. That is what we ought to be doing. But because there is so much debate and because there is such disagreement about what is holding up the agreement for that 6-month plan, there is something that is gaining momentum in this country that I want to assure everyone knows about. I was notified of it this morning through an e-mail into my Web site. It was from a woman I do not know. She said: My husband is Active Duty in the Navy, and I just wanted to let you know there is a Facebook campaign supporting S. 724.…
