Nugent sends Reid a letter

REP NUGENT:  “It’s time for the Senate to show Americans where they stand.”

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Yesterday, Rep. Rich Nugent (FL-05) led more than thirty of his colleagues in sending the letter below to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urging him to reconsider his decision not to pass a 2013 budget resolution this year.

Upon sending the letter to Reid and receiving the President’s own budget request, Rep. Nugent issued the following statement:

“A few weeks ago, we just passed the milestone of 1,000 days without a Senate budget. And now, barely six weeks into 2012, Harry Reid is already saying he’s going to throw in the towel again this year.

“On January 24th, over 400 of my colleagues voted in favor of a resolution I introduced expressing the national importance of passing a budget resolution. I think it is a real testament to the bipartisan frustration that the House feels over the complete and total inaction in the Senate.

“The President has submitted his budget request and the House will put forward its budget plan later next month. If the Senate refuses to tell us what they will support by putting out their own budget, it’s nearly impossible to get anything accomplished.  We’re headed for the fourth straight year without a blueprint from the Senate. Beyond that, there are twenty--eight job related bills that have passed the House, some with over 400 votes in support, that haven't even been brought up for debate in the Senate.  The Senate can't continue ducking like this forever.  It's time for the Senate to show Americans where they stand."

Sen. Harry Reid

Majority leader

United States Senate

528 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Leader Reid,

We are barely past the 1,000 day mark without a Senate budget and little more than four weeks into the new year, and already you are making it clear that you do not intend to bring a budget to the floor of the United States Senate for Fiscal Year 2013.

Despite an overwhelming, bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives underscoring the national importance of passing a budget, the Senate apparently isn’t even going to try.

Leader Reid, it is hard to know where to begin trying to explain the Senate’s inaction to the people we represent. The nation is facing unprecedented levels of debt, the Congressional Budget Office is projecting trillion-dollar per year deficits for the balance of the decade, and the United States Congress has presented no bicameral proposal to the American people about how we intend to deal with it. That is wholly unacceptable.

In the real world, families must live within a budget, small businesses and farms must operate within a budget, and state and local governments must live within a budget. The only institution in this country that we are aware of that doesn’t feel the need to operate under a budget is the United States Senate.

We urge you, in the strongest terms possible, to reconsider your decision not to bring a budget resolution to the Senate floor. Mr. Leader, the American people are saying, “We can’t wait.”

Sincerely,

Richard B. Nugent