Floor Statement: March 2, 2001 Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, yesterday in my role as ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, I met with Senator DOMENICI, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He informed me he intended not to have a markup of the budget in the Budget Committee but to come directly to the floor of the Senate. This was pursuant to a request I had made that we proceed to schedule a markup in the committee. I told him I thought a decision not to have a markup in the Budget Committee would be a mistake. We have never had a circumstance in which we have tried to bring a budget for the United States to the floor of the Senate without the Budget Committee, which has the primary responsibility, meeting first to hammer out an agreement. Senator Domenici, the chairman of the Budget Committee, told me he believes it will be impossible for us to reach an agreement. I don't know how anyone can be certain of that before we have tried. I hope very much that he will--and I asked Senator DOMENICI yesterday to reconsider to give us a chance to debate and discuss the budget in the Budget Committee and to have votes. That is how we make decisions. I still hold some optimism that after discussion and debate we might find agreement. It might not be on precisely what the President has proposed. Someone recommended yesterday that we try to agree on a 1-year budget. But we have a country that has some serious challenges. Anybody who has been watching the markets knows they continue to decline, and decline precipitously. While it is true that the best immediate response is monetary policy and the Federal Reserve Board lowering interest rates, that has now been done three times, and still the slide continues, and still we see warning signals about the economy. We see Japan in a perilous position. We have had a serious energy shock in this country. We see high levels of individual debt in America. We see very dramatic weakness in the financial markets. I personally believe we have an obligation and a responsibility to try to respond as quickly as possible. I think that means, on the fiscal policy side, we fast-forward the parts of the President's proposed tax cut to try to provide some stimulus to this economy. We can wait, and we can doddle and deliberate, or we can act. I hope very much that we take the opportunity to work in the Budget Committee to try to find common ground, to try to find a basis on which we can agree so we can get a swift response on the fiscal side to provide some confidence to the American people, to provide some confidence that their Government is responding to what is happening in their daily lives. Some have said, well, if you agree on something that is other than precisely what the President has proposed, that will be seen as a defeat for the President. I don't think we need to be in that position. I think we can find perhaps an overall global agreement that would be seen as a win for the country, a win for the President, and a win for the Congress. Nobody is defeated, nobody is hurt, but that collectively we have worked together to do what is best for the country. I really think we can do that, and at the end of the day it might be precisely what the President has proposed. But it may well enjoy his support. The fact is, circumstances have changed. He made a proposal during the campaign. I didn't agree with every part of it, but I respect him for doing it. The question now is, What do we do in light of what we face today? It does not need to be exactly what was proposed more than a year ago. Circumstances have changed. We have a requirement and a responsibility to respond to what is occurring. I am again asking Senator Domenici to reconsider. I am asking colleagues on both sides to urge Senator Domenici to reconsider. The Members on the Budget Committee have been very diligent in their responsibilities. We had an outstanding set of hearings. We ought to debate and discuss a budget resolution for this country before it comes to the floor of the Senate. I think it really invites chaos to come out here with the Budget Committee for the first time ever failing to even meet and failing to even try. What kind of procedure is that? I hope very much that Members of goodwill will get together in this Chamber and try to do what is best for the country and try to go through the kind of process we normally do to reach agreement. This idea that we predict failure before we have tried I think is a mistake. We ought to try debate and we ought to discuss and vote and provide some leadership so that we have a budget resolution out on the floor that has been carefully vetted by the Members who have the primary responsibility--the Senate Budget Committee. I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.