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Heller: 'Only in Washington Do They Call Budgeting Stupid'

GOP Senator: Everything here is done by crisis

January 22, 2013

The U.S. Senate has not passed a budget since 2009, and Sen. Dean Heller (R., Nev.) went on Fox News Tuesday to talk about lifting the debt ceiling for three months and getting one passed in that time. Directly tied to that is his proposed "No Budget, No Pay" act.

"We haven't had a budget for almost four years," Heller said. "I think we can agree on one thing, that the worst run institution in America right now is the United States Congress, so we need to do something different. There are a lot of people in Washington, D.C., that obviously don't want to cut their pay. The purpose of that constitutional amendment was to make sure that members of Congress didn't enrich themselves during the legislative session."

Heller defended the plan, going on to say that he was tired of Congress only getting serious work done under force.

"I think leadership in the Senate called it stupid, but only in Washington, D.C., do they call budgeting stupid," Heller said. "That's why we're $16 trillion in the hole right now. Everything is done in Washington, D.C., by crisis. Everything's a crisis, whether it's the debt ceiling, whether it's sequestration. It doesn't matter, whatever it is. Everything is done by crisis, and we're going to push this forward."