Mike Enzi: “I am pleased we are at the point of having the debate now on the budget. It is extremely critical to the operation of…”

“I am pleased we are at the point of having the debate now on the budget. It is extremely critical to the operation of the Nation to have this done in a very timely fashion. I appreciate the cooperation on both sides of the aisle to bring it to this point. I enjoyed the insights and debate we had last week as it congenially went through committee. There was a lot of cooperation, a lot of exploration, a lot of decisionmaking last week that resulted in the budget that is here today so we can begin the floor debate. I look forward to making progress on the budget this week and getting it wrapped up so the authorizing committees can look at the exact projects they have coming, have some kind of idea of the amount of money that is in there and, at the same time, the projects they want to do over the years that are necessary to accomplish. Then, of course, the timely work of the authorizing committees will allow the timely operation of the Appropriations Committee. Last year we were not able to approve an appropriation until this year, in January. That is supposed to be done in October, not January-- October. We got it done in January. But we ought to be able to get it done in October, before October 1, so all the agencies know what they are operating on for that year so we are not guessing for part of the year and then operating on an appropriation. All of that ties back into this budget process.”