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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 3, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S6033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                              BUDGET DELAY

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I add my voice of concern over the delay 
in action of the Federal budget. It is now May 3. That is over a month 
after the April 1 deadline for the Budget Committee to report a 
concurrent resolution on the budget. It is also nearly 3 weeks after 
the April 15 deadline for Congress to have completed its work on that 
concurrent budget resolution.
  I raise my concern, Mr. President, knowing that not every budget 
deadline has always been met, nor do I suggest that the task facing the 
Budget Committee is an easy one. It is a very tough one. But by this 
time, during the two sessions of the 103d Congress, we had considered 
and passed a concurrent budget resolution through the Senate.
  In 1994, we passed the Senate version of the concurrent budget 
resolution on March 25, and agreed to a conference report on May 12.
  Moreover, those concurrent budget resolutions contained politically 
tough deficit reduction provisions, and were submitted, debated, and 
passed at a time when a new administration was taking office--the first 
Presidential party change in 12 years.
  Mr. President, many of us on this side of the aisle are ready to help 
craft a budget that will eliminate the Federal deficit.
  We have demonstrated that we are willing to vote for politically 
unpopular proposals to lower the deficit.
  In 1993, when we were the majority party, we developed and passed a 
$500 billion deficit reduction package.
  We are still very sorry that no member of what was then the minority 
party decided to support that package, though it was certainly the 
right of each Senator to vote as they saw fit.
  Beyond the individual right of minority members, though, during the 
103d Congress it was our responsibility as the majority party to 
advance a budget, not the responsibility of those on the other side of 
the aisle who were in the minority at the time.
  Mr. President, it is the responsibility of the majority party to 
propose, refine, and pass a budget, with or without the help of members 
of the minority. We want to be a part of that process and to cooperate. 
But it is first the responsibility of the majority.
  It is the privilege of the minority party to respond, offer 
alternatives, and, when conscience requires, to dissent from the budget 
proposal.
  Such is the political dynamic of our legislative process.
  And our colleagues on the other side of the aisle exercised their 
privilege as the minority party in 1993, and refused to join us in 
making that tough deficit reduction vote.
  Mr. President, the two parties have exchanges roles in the 104th 
Congress, but the duty of the majority party remains unchanged.
  It is the majority party that
   sets the agenda, proposes a budget, and finds a way to pass that 
budget.

  By contrast to the last Congress, however, I know a number of us in 
the minority are willing to support a budget resolution that reduces 
the deficit.
  We will help shoulder the burden of passing a budget that reduces the 
deficit.
  But, Mr. President, before we can provide that cooperation, we must 
have a budget to work with.
  The choices that face us are already extremely difficult.
  Each day we delay they become even harder.
  We are all very much aware of how our budget problems are 
accelerating, and what delay means in lost fiscal opportunities.
  But delay also risks the political consensus that must be achieved if 
we are to make significant progress on the deficit.
  Mr. President, without public support, we cannot hope to find the 
votes for a balanced budget.
  I don't mean to suggest that we can only pass a budget if the 
American people are enthusiastically behind every provision.
  That is not going to happen when doing spending cuts.
  If we could find such a proposal, we would have balanced the budget a 
long time ago.
  Nor do the American people expect or even want such a budget.
  They rightly are skeptical of those who promise easy solutions.
  Mr. President, what the American people do want is to feel that their 
elected Representatives are being straightforward and open with them 
about what they propose.
  They will not support a budget that is the product of closed-door 
meetings, held in the dead of night.
  But they will support a budget that is openly debated.
  They are willing to sacrifice if they feel that the process has been 
open and fair.
  Mr. President, this budget delay really amounts to a budget blackout.
  The longer the delay, the longer the blackout, and the less likely 
that we will be able to build the political consensus with the American 
public that we will need to balance the budget.

                          ____________________
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