“The Democratic Majority has chosen irresponsibly to avoid the hard budgetary choices New Jersey families and small businesses must make every day”

WASHINGTON – Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ-07) today urged the Democratic Majority to put forth a budget plan for 2010 amid reports that the House and Senate will likely skip this year the annual task of crafting a budget for the U.S. Government.  

“The failure of presenting a budget to the American people is a failure of leadership by the Democratic Majority to govern and a missed opportunity to put forth a budget blueprint that puts our Nation on the path of fiscal responsibility,” Lance said.  “Never before in the modern era has the House of Representatives failed to pass a budget.  But never before has our Nation seen this type of unprecedented runaway congressional spending , deficits and debts.”

This issue is not new to Congressman Lance.  On April 15, 2010 Lance joined 72 House Republicans in calling on Speaker Pelosi to produce a federal budget for a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.  

In their letter Leonard Lance and House Republicans wrote, “As Americans scramble to meet today’s tax filing deadline, the Democratic Congress will miss its own deadline for one of the most basic acts of governing: passing a budget resolution. Worse, recent press reports have indicated that the House of Representatives may not consider a budget resolution this year.  If true, this would be the first time since the passage of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that the House would fail to craft a budget.  We believe that this would set a terrible precedent, and we strongly urge you to reject these reports and encourage the House to consider a budget resolution later this year.”

According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) the House of Representatives has never failed to consider a budget resolution since the current budget rules were put in place in 1974.

“Producing a federal budget blueprint is one of the most basic responsibilities of the Congress.  Yet for the first time in 36 years the Democratic Majority has chosen irresponsibly to avoid the hard budgetary choices New Jersey families and small businesses must make every day,” concluded Lance.
 

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