Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) lambasted the budgetary process ahead of a key vote Thursday, calling the Senate budget a hoax and saying that he would dismantle the Senate Budget Committee.
“The only thing about this that matters is preparation for the tax reform,” said Corker, who is retiring at the end of the Congress. “Other than that, these amendment votes, everything about this is a hoax. A hoax. It has no impact on anything whatsoever.
“If I were chairman of the budget committee, I would dismantle it. I would move to end it immediately in its current form,” Corker said.
“Unless we create a real budget process, which this is not, our country’s fiscal situation will continue to go down the tube, and we have no mechanism to control real spending, 70 percent of which is mandatory, that’s not even covered by this,” he continued.
{mosads}
The Senate Budget resolution is coming to the floor six months later than normal. The fiscal year for 2018 started on Oct. 1, meaning the government is now spending money before Congress approves a budget for it.
This isn’t unusual; Congress has been unable to pass a budget through both the House and Senate for years.
Congress approved a spending measure to keep the government operating last month that runs through Dec. 8. Lawmakers must then approve a new measure to prevent a shutdown.
The budget resolution the Senate is expected to vote on Thursday includes reconciliation instructions that would allow Congress to pass a tax-reform bill with a simple majority, sidestepping a Democratic filibuster.
That, Corker said, was the only worthwhile thing about the legislation, and enough to get him to vote for it.
“Yeah, I‘m voting ‘yes’ on this meaningless piece of legislation that does one thing,” he said.
The budget is expected to move forward late Thursday or early Friday after a marathon session of amendment votes known as a vote-a-rama.