Russ Feingold: “the debate surrounding this year's budget resolution is tame compared to the debate we heard last year at this time. But…”

“the debate surrounding this year's budget resolution is tame compared to the debate we heard last year at this time. But we should not be lulled by this relative quiet. This year's model is not much different from the one produced last year. In one key regard, it may be worse. The warnings many of us made last year have come true. Rather than focusing on eliminating the deficit and finally balancing the Federal budget, this year's budget resolution has one overarching goal, namely to provide an election year tax cut. Mr. President, on this issue, the hands of both parties are dirty. Republicans and Democrats both have engaged in this tax cut bidding war. Even the so-called bipartisan budget proposal revolves around a $130 billion tax cut. Mr. President, we have lost a real opportunity. After the debate of the last year, one might have thought that we had reached a consensus that balancing the Federal budget was our most important task. The negotiations that took place between the Republican Congressional leadership and the White House appeared to be moving the parties closer together. Each side had agreed to similar ground rules and a timetable for a balanced budget; each side had offered a budget plan that actually reached balance. Sadly, negotiations broke off, and there was no agreement reached on a plan to balance the budget.”