Lloyd Bentsen: “However, this is just a bad amendment. It is well-intentioned, but I consider this amendment to be the dumbing down of…”

“However, this is just a bad amendment. It is well-intentioned, but I consider this amendment to be the dumbing down of American government. It means well that we do not want government shutdowns, but what this amendment does is it puts the government on automatic pilot. We might as well pass this and leave town and not come back, because if we have any discrepancy between the executive branch and the legislative branch, nothing will ever get done. All we will do is have automatic CRs that will go one after the other, and we will never take care of policy issues we should be addressing. Yes, there are times when the government is shut down. We had it during the Clinton administration, we had it during the Reagan administration. Usually the power inures to the executive in that process. Nonetheless, that is how the system works. In the end, we are better off because there is that separation of powers between the branches. I would encourage my colleagues to oppose this.”