Patty Murray: “I have very serious concerns because I heard my colleague from Idaho, the manager of the bill, say that CBO had, indeed…”

“I have very serious concerns because I heard my colleague from Idaho, the manager of the bill, say that CBO had, indeed, requested, I believe, $4.5 million additional to take care of this bill. It is my understanding--I see the chairman of the Appropriations Committee is in the Chamber; perhaps he can respond--that the legislative branch is going to have to reduce its budget by $200 million, and here we are telling everybody up front that we are going to ask for $4.5 million more for CBO just under a guess estimate of what this might have in the way of an impact on CBO, and I do think that is an important consideration we need to look at. I appreciate the Senator's response that you would go into a colloquy with me and answer some of the questions raised both by myself and Senator Levin. I had intended to withdraw this amendment, but I would like to instead ask the manager--I intend to withdraw my first amendment--if he would agree to let me lay aside this amendment until we have the responses for my questions.”