The Constitution requires that the Budget must be approved before the Senate can "move on to any other matter." Thus, I feel compelled (unfortunately) to delay the hearings until the Budget is approved.
No one anticipated this problem during the drafting of the Constitution? Unbelievable.
I believe I remember stating something like this when we were debating the budget amendment in the Senate, I am not certain since I have not been able to look at that thread. Since the Constitution copies that amendment almost word for word I would ask Sam if you have any problems with it.