Where is the Federal Budget?

                                              Weekly Column

When the Senate last week voted against beginning debate on a budget, it voted to complete the 108th straight week – more than two years – without a roadmap for how to spend taxpayer dollars. This means the astronomical spending levels reached through the bloated stimulus legislation, along with the free-spending 2009 budget have been locked in place because the President and Majority in the Senate have avoided passing a new budget ever since. Our country's fiscal situation was dire in 2009, but two years later a spending crisis looms unquestionably closer. The stubborn refusal by the President and Senate Democrats to responsibly address this crisis is simply unforgivable.

Had one of last week's budget proposals received enough votes, it would've gone to the Senate floor, and the process of proposing and debating amendments could've begun. Yet we were unable to get even that far. I voted for two of these proposals, one offered by Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and one by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. I didn't agree with everything in either one of these plans, but they represented responsible starts that took an honest look at our current situation. Because neither reached the floor for debate, we're back to square one with no budget and the clock ticking our debt.

Another budget voted on was the Presidents. Remarkably, it did not receive a single vote. Ninety-seven Senators voted against the President's plan for a way forward. There was zero confidence in the President's budget because he showed zero leadership in offering an unusable budget. This is tremendously disappointing. The budget process used to be acted upon in a serious and responsible way to fulfill Congress' duty. The President would propose a workable plan, Congress would use it as a starting point, committees would debate and revise a budget, and it would pass. Our President offered something not even his staunchest Senate allies could support, and Senate Democrats offered nothing at all. Forfeiting leadership in such a way, at such a critical time for our country, is indefensible.

We now must continue relying on temporary extensions of unsustainable 2009 spending levels to keep the government funded, with the next extension due in September. Meanwhile, we're still racking up trillion-dollar deficits while reading ominous economic forecasts for our future. The Senate Majority refuses to discuss plans to make government spending sustainable. There is considerable resistance to reforming entitlements, yet it's our only hope to rescue Medicare from insolvency. Entitlements make up nearly half of our spending.

Those who voted against debating a budget last week will tell you these efforts to restore Medicare's solvency would actually hurt it. This is dishonest. The reality is that under the current health care law, Medicare will be stripped of $500 billion and is expected to be out of money entirely in just nine years. For anyone, or any generation, expecting to have access to Medicare benefits after those nine years, current law dashes those hopes. We must preserve Medicare. I'll continue pushing to begin this debate, so we can keep our spending sustainable and our fundamental American health care program available for future generations of Americans.