Political Quotes

“I would just say that the Associated Press disagrees. It is plainly inaccurate. Plainly, I asked that question, over current law, did they count the sequester increase in spending? And the staff admitted in our Budget Committee mark up that it did not--that increased spending--and therefore we reduce the deficit savings from $1.85 trillion to about $700 billion. There is another $700 billion in gimmicks, so there is no reduction in the deficit in this budget. The AP reported: . . . because Democrats want to restore $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts . . .--cuts imposed by [the] failure to strike a . . . budget pact--Murray's blueprint increases spending slightly when compared with current policies. The Hill says: The Murray budget does not contain net spending cuts with the sequester turned off. So I will say this is a serious issue. We need to understand that the sequester is law. It is not just a policy, it is in law. It is taking effect right now. The deficit reduction proposed by this bill is not $1.8 trillion but, in fact, zero. I thank the Chair and would now recognize Senator Barrasso for 10 minutes, I believe, and Senator Alexander for 10 minutes. I thank them for their patience. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.”