Washington, D.C. – Senator Ron Johnson (WI) today stated that he will begin to withhold consent for Senate business if the Senate does not meet the statutory deadline for passing a budget resolution. His comments came at a Capitol Hill press conference: 

“This is a national scandal. The reason we're standing up here today on the thousandth day of not passing a budget is so that hopefully the American people understand what a national scandal this is.

“It is imperative that we get our federal budget under control. And the first step, the minimum thing that Congress should do, is follow the law that it passed to put discipline on itself and pass a budget.

“On June 28th last year, when we were failing to seriously address the fiscal situation of this country, I stood up on the floor of the Senate and I began to withhold my consent, to make a point.

“If we haven't passed a budget by April 15th this year, you can rest assured that on April 16th, I'll start doing the exact same thing. I'll start withholding my consent to draw attention to the issue that we have not passed a budget, that we are not seriously addressing the financial situation of this country. It's the minimum that the American people can expect or should expect.

“The other side really does need to put their plan, their budget on a piece of paper -- not just say that they’re for a grand bargain, not just say that they're for fiscal control, but show the American people what their plan is for preventing the bankruptcy of this nation.”

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