Political Quotes

“I certainly do. And I think I may have had a little role in the fact that a budget was passed since I had been complaining that the Democratic majority went 4 years without passing a budget and several years without even bringing it to the floor. While the House was passing a budget every year, the Senate failed and refused a fundamental legal requirement to even produce one. But this year our new chairman, Senator Murray, did bring a budget forward and did move it through the body. There was a concern--I didn't raise it, but a number of colleagues on this side of the aisle said: We are glad to have the budget move forward, but we want you to commit not to raise the debt ceiling on a budget reconciliation because you could raise the debt ceiling with 51 votes instead of 60 votes. I know the Senator may not like that, but that is exactly what was said. And Senator Durbin on this floor said he did not think it could be done under the rules of the Senate and that we could raise the debt ceiling on the budget. But then why wouldn't the Senator agree to that? So the request from the people who objected to sending a budget forward to conference was based solely--and they expressed it repeatedly--on the concerns that budget reconciliation would be used to raise the debt and therefore not be subject to a 60-vote majority.”