Lloyd Bentsen: “about eight hours ago in the middle of the night we debated the Republican budget resolution when nobody was around. I…”

“about eight hours ago in the middle of the night we debated the Republican budget resolution when nobody was around. I think people in Hawaii watched it, but every place else Americans were probably sleeping. The reason we debated it then is because they do not want to get up and defend it. They do not want to defend the $10 billion in user fees. In my district they want to double insurance premiums on middle class homeowners, just like they wanted to in 1995 and 1996. They want to raise the user fees for the intercostal waterway, where working men and women move barges and product along the Gulf Coast, by 500 percent. That is a pretty big increase. What is going on here? The process is broken. The Republican leadership in the House has failed in the budget. It is two months after we were supposed to have come up with a budget. We have ceded the process to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The gentleman who just spoke in the well speaks about big budget Democrats. They were rushing to vote to spend $22 billion over the balanced budget agreement and take out of the pockets of the veterans 2 weeks ago. The process is broken. The Republican leadership has failed the House once again.”