Patty Murray: “I rise today to gratefully express my relief that finally, 7 months into the current fiscal year, we are debating the…”

“I rise today to gratefully express my relief that finally, 7 months into the current fiscal year, we are debating the bill that will put this year's budget to bed. And I am pleased to be able to support this bill based on changes that have been made over the past few days. This agreement did not come easy, and it comes nearly too late for many people. It's unfortunate that it took two Government shut-downs, innumerable furloughs, and needlessly bitter partisan disputes, before we reached the path of resolution: serious bipartisan negotiations. I do not think many families would make their budgets this way, 6 months late. I know I would not. But I am glad we've reached an agreement nonetheless. I said to all my colleagues and the people of Washington State early last year there is a right way, and a wrong way, to balance the Federal budget. The wrong way would be to use quick and dirty gimmicks, paper tigers like the constitutional amendment or the line item veto. I said the right way is to go through the budget line-by-line, program-by-program, and make the tough choices necessary to balance the books. Well, that is what happened on this bill. It reflects tough decisions, and strong, clearly-set priorities of both political parties. The final agreement saves the taxpayers another $23 billion under last year's budget, and I think that's a good thing.”