Political Quotes

“To my knowledge, at no time since I have been here did the Senate not attempt to pass a budget. In the last 2 years, even when our Democratic colleagues had 60 votes--the largest majority in recent memory in the Senate--they only attempted to bring a budget to the floor once. Last year a budget did go to committee. It was marked up by Senator Conrad. It came to the floor, but the majority leader decided not to bring it up. This year, it seems that Senator Conrad was told not to have a markup, not to even produce a budget in committee. It seems to me to indicate a lack of willingness to lead because-- would the Senator not agree?--a budget sets the priorities, demonstrates the vision for the future of the country and what we should spend, what we should tax, and how much debt we can afford to run up. Those are fundamental responsibilities. How would he evaluate the fact that tomorrow we are 800 days without a budget? What does that say about the leadership we have seen in the Senate?”