[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 12, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S1672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             BUDGET PREVIEW

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as we know, President Obama missed this 
year's legal deadline to submit a budget to Congress, just like he has 
nearly every year of his presidency. But this year it is even worse--we 
now know he does not even plan to submit a budget until after the House 
and the Senate have acted to pass one.
  That has never happened in the more than 90 years that have gone by 
since the modern budgeting process was established in the 1920s. 
Somehow, Presidents managed to submit budgets on time in the middle of 
World War II, during the Great Depression--but not today? There is 
simply no excuse.
  Rather than helping lead Congress toward a reasonable outcome, it 
appears the President is happy to drop a bomb on the congressional 
budget process instead by releasing his budget plan after the House and 
Senate have acted--presumably so he can campaign against Republicans if 
the process fails as he hopes. Let's hope he does not trot out that 
tired political playbook again.
  The President should send over his budget now--not next week or next 
month, but today--so both sides can consider it at a time when it might 
be helpful, rather than destructive, to the process.
  And speaking of serious delays, for 4 years my constituents in 
Kentucky and Americans across the country have been asking Senate 
Democrats a simple question: ``Where's the budget?'' Most families put 
one together. They want to know what Democrats who run the Senate have 
planned.
  But for 4 years, Senate Democrats have ignored these concerns. Year 
after year, they have neglected one of their most important legislative 
responsibilities.
  Evidently that is about to change. Senate Democrats are now pledging 
to finally--finally--produce a budget. I will be interested to see what 
they put forward.
  I hope Senate Democrats take this exercise seriously and propose real 
spending reforms that can put our country on a stronger, more 
sustainable fiscal path, reforms that can control spending and lead to 
robust private-sector growth and job creation. We will see.
  What about Republicans? Well, Republicans lead the House, and they 
have proposed budgets every year, right on schedule--budgets that would 
finally put our country on a path to growth and job creation, and that 
would put our creaky entitlement programs on a sound fiscal footing so 
they are around when people need them.
  Today, House Republicans will unveil this year's budget blueprint. If 
the past is any indication, the reforms it contains would jump-start 
our economy, help more Americans join the middle class, and begin to 
tackle the debt that threatens all of our futures because Republicans 
understand we need to grow the economy, not the government. What's 
more, it would get us back to a balanced budget within just a few short 
years.
  Call me a skeptic, but there is little chance the budget my Senate 
Democrat friends put forward will balance--either today, 10 years from 
today, or ever. And I doubt it will contain much in the way of spending 
reform either. We will probably just get more of what we have come to 
expect from them the past few years: lots of budget gimmickry, tons of 
wasteful spending, and even more tax hikes. That type of budget won't 
grow the economy or shrink the debt.
  But here is the thing. The budgeting process is a great way for both 
parties to outline their priorities for the country, and that is 
something Senate Democrats have refused to do until now.
  So, if they want to put forward a budget that allows Medicare to go 
bankrupt, that hikes up taxes on the families and small businesses that 
can least afford them, and that proposes a future of massive deficits 
without end--if that is really how they want to define themselves for 
the American people--then let the battle of ideas begin.
  But we need to see their budget first, so it is time to end the years 
of delays and put those ideas on the table. And it is well past time 
for the President to do the same--not after Congress acts, but before.
  Republicans have managed to play by the rules every year and produce 
serious budgets for our country. I hope Democrats are finally ready to 
get to work to do the same.
  I yield the floor.

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