Patty Murray: “as we return from the President's Day recess, the Senate will be debating the future direction of our country. This…”

“as we return from the President's Day recess, the Senate will be debating the future direction of our country. This debate will come in the form of the discussions we have on the Federal Government's budget. A budget is a statement of our priorities. Families across our country make difficult decisions every day while living within their own budgets, choosing one priority over another and working hard to fulfill their own American dream. Likewise, our national budget and the way we spend tax dollars reflects our priorities as a Nation. We make difficult choices, establish priorities and try to set our Nation on a course to prosperity. Unfortunately, the President's recent submission of his fiscal year 2007 budget and subsequent request for supplemental appropriations for the ongoing war in Iraq do not reflect the priorities our Nation needs to move ahead, and it makes the wrong choices in spending and saving. Taken together, they represent a callous disregard for fiscal reality and a failure to prioritize our country's most important needs. No American family would dare manage their finances this way, and I am on the floor today to say that we must take a different course. In the 3 years since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, our country and Congress have stood with the President in staunch support of our troops.…”