WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the floor of the U.S. Senate today, Senator Angus S. King, Jr. (I-ME), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, urged his colleagues to move forward with the federal budget process in order to further improve the economic health of the nation and to demonstrate to the American people that Congress still has the ability to solve major problems. Forty-six days have passed since the U.S. Senate approved its budget resolution, crafted in part by Senator King. Republican objections have stalled the budget process, however, by preventing the appointment of members to a Conference Committee that would be tasked with reconciling the Senate budget with that passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Senator King, who had previously called on his colleagues “to recognize that we have an opportunity to collaboratively accomplish a comprehensive, compromise plan that addresses the most pressing fiscal needs of our nation,” reiterated his call on the Senate floor today:

“I hope, from the point of view of someone who sees values on both sides, and believes that the only way we're going to solve these problems is by discussion – and yes by compromise – that's what we have to move forward toward. That's what we have to do in order to regain the confidence of the American people – and we have a long way to go. But I believe if we could move in a regular, orderly way, to go to conference…If we could do that, almost regardless of what the content of the budget is – that in itself would electrify the country.”

“I believe and I hope my colleagues on the other side will decide to engage – to allow the conference to go forward with members of both parties, to go over to the House and sit down and try to work something out. We all know what the issues are. We all know what the amounts are. We all know what the dollars are. I believe that people who entered a room in good faith could solve this in about an afternoon, if they left their ideological blinders at the door.”

Senator King’s speech can be viewed on his YouTube page.

The complete transcript of the speech is as follows:

“Mr. President, this discussion, this debate, isn't about budgets. It's not about deficits. It's about governing. That's the fundamental question that's before this body. It's about governing. I rise surprised and disappointed. I expected to come here and debate issues. Instead we're debating debating. We're having to argue and debate about the very act of getting to talk about these issues. And the problem, Mr. President, with the economy of this country right now, in my mind, is very largely attributable to the uncertainty about whether the government in Washington is competent.

“It's the uncertainty that's killing us. A reporter asked me last week in Maine, ‘What do you think you can do in Washington to help us create jobs?’ And my immediate answer was, ‘The most important thing we could do is pass a budget in a kind of rational process, in the normal way that's been done for 200 years. And show the country that we can govern. It's less important what's in the budget, than whether we can do it at all.’

“And that's why I'm so surprised and disappointed to have come to this impasse where we can't even get to the point of negotiating with the majority budget in the other body. It makes me wonder if the members on the opposite side of the aisle here lack so much confidence in their colleagues in the House that they don't think they can hold the line on whatever the issues they believe are important. These two budgets are very different. But I think there are items of value in both, and I can see the outlines of a compromise. We need deficit reduction. We need to clean up the tax code. We need tax rate reduction as part of cleaning up the tax code. We need to make investments in the future of this country.

“But the idea that we can't even get to talk there, I frankly am just perplexed. I don't understand what the strategy is. Because when I was running last year, and when I was in Maine just last week, the single question I get more than anything else is, ‘Why in the heck can't you people do something down there?’ Only they state it a little less elegantly than I just did. ‘Why can't you get anything done?’ The question that was raised in the hearing this morning was from the people in the street, ‘We're having a hard time understanding what is happening and why.’

“Well, I'm a United States Senator, and I'm having a hard time understanding what is happening and why. Passing a budget, budgeting is one of the most fundamental obligations of government. I was a Governor. I know about putting budgets together. I know about making choices. It's not easy. It's not going to be easy to make the choices that are going to be required for this budget. It's going to be very difficult.

“But that's what we were sent here to do. That's our job. That's our obligation to the American people, and I do believe that there are areas of consensus, and there are some areas in the House budget that I think are ideas that are worth considering. The American people simply want us to act. And sure, everybody in this body has different views, and there are partisan views, but as somebody who was sent down here explicitly to try to make the place work, I think that was why I was elected as an Independent. Because people are so frustrated with this warfare that they don't understand that doesn't contribute to the welfare of the country.

“So I hope, from the point of view of someone who sees values on both sides, and believes that the only way we're going to solve these problems is by discussion, and yes by compromise, that's what we have to move forward toward. That's what we have to do in order to regain the confidence of the American people. And we have a long way to go. But I believe if we could move in a regular, orderly way, to go to conference which, in the civics book has always told me what we're supposed to do next: the House passes a bill, the Senate passes a bill, they have differences, you go to conference, you resolve the differences, both houses then vote, it goes to the President; that's the way the system was designed. If we could do that, almost regardless of what the content of the budget is, that in itself would electrify the country. It would be so remarkable, and people would say, ‘Oh, now they're finally doing something.’

“I believe and I hope my colleagues on the other side will decide to engage – to allow the conference to go forward with members of both parties, to go over to the House and sit down and try to work something out. We all know what the issues are. We all know what the amounts are. We all know what the dollars are. I believe that people who entered a room in good faith could solve this in about an afternoon, if they left their ideological blinders at the door.”

“I think there are solutions to be had, and we have a responsibility to find them. But today we can't even begin to talk about them. And that's what's so puzzling to the American people. That's what's puzzling to me. I just don't understand what's wrong with debating. What's wrong with working on the problem. And to just say, ‘Oh well, we can't do it, the sequester is going to be with us, it's going to be with us for another couple of years.’ I just think that just doesn't meet our fundamental responsibility as people who came here to govern.

“We all know that there was a thing passed last year about ‘No Budget, No Pay’. Well unfortunately, it only said if you pass a budget in the House they get it, and if you pass a budget…and well we've done that, it should've been, ‘No budget that finally gets done, no pay’ because now we're just stuck at an impasse.

“I don't know what the outcome of the negotiations would be. I'm not sure I would like them. But I believe that the real task before us today is not budgets and deficits. The question before us is, ‘Is this experiment in democracy, that's an aberration in world history, is it still working?’ Are we able to make this idea work in the 21st century and meet the challenges of this country. And it seems to me that the only way to begin that process is to talk, and debate, and argue, and work through the process that the framers gave us in order to solve the problems of the country.

“Mr. President, I hope that before long we're going to reach a time when all of us can agree in this body that it's time to go to work on trying to bring a budget back to both houses, that we can all support, and move this country forward. The act of at least coming up with a solution, not a perfect solution, but a solution, itself would be the most important gift that we could provide today to the people of this country. Thank you Mr. President.”

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