Crapo calls for budget action in Washington

The U.S. Senate's failure to report a budget by April 1 has Sen. Mike Crapo seeing red.

“Our nation is facing one of the worst economic crises in our history and the bipartisan political bickering in Washington is at an all-time high,” Crapo said, in a prepared statement issued by his office. “Americans are fed up. I am as well. Elected representatives are not doing what they were sent to Washington to do. A responsible budget will put our nation’s finances back on the path to paying off our debt and controlling our spending.”

By law, the Senate is required to report a budget resolution out of committee each year on April 1 and adopt it by April 15.

For the third consecutive year, amid debt ceiling hikes and record-setting deficits, the Senate has failed to do so, Crapo, a Republican from Idaho and member of the Senate Budget Committee, says this is unacceptable.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget resolution that cuts government spending, maintains a safety net for those reliant on federal assistance and lifts the crushing burden of debt. Meanwhile, the Senate has not passed a budget in more than 1,000 days.

Last month, before the April 1 statutory deadline, Crapo and every Republican on the Senate Budget Committee wrote a letter to Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, urging him to schedule a public mark-up of the budget. Crapo noted that Senate leadership continues to refuse to bring a proposed budget to the Senate floor for open debate.

Crapo said one reason for the inaction may be that if a budget is brought to the Senate floor, Senators would be forced to cast votes on the president’s health law, which will cost $2.6 trillion for ten years of implementation, rather than the originally promised $900 billion.

“The American people deserve a public mark-up of the budget,” Crapo added. “The House has done their job, the Senate should do theirs, and a budget should at least be proposed. It only takes 51 votes to pass a budget on the Senate floor. It is time to take the tough votes, do the hard work and put America back on a reliable path toward fiscal responsibility.”