FY 2015 Budget (Passed)

[Lief 🗽]

Considering the skyrocketing inflation rate in this country at the moment, I don't believe it would be appropriate at all to cut taxes at this time, and I would be hard pressed to vote for any budget that did so.

[Lief 🗽]

Nay on the amendment.

[Lief 🗽]

I second TNF's motion.

[Lief 🗽]

While we mull over the revenue numbers, I would like to propose an amendment. First of all, this amendment recognizes the drastic and pressing need to immediately cut spending, as the administration continues to argue for. Second, this amendment recognizes that the Justice Department is currently grossly over-funded, an inevitable conclusion based on the parade of cases it continues to waste the courts' time with (e.g. prosecuting someone for a crime for which that person has already been pardoned). Therefore, I propose that the administration of justice section be amended as follows:

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[Lief 🗽]

Prosecuting someone for a crime they were pardoned for is not "enforcing the laws of Atlasia," at least based on my understanding of our great country's laws.

[Lief 🗽]

I find it very disturbing that the Attorney General is poking his head into the Senate to insult a sitting Senator and regional representative.

[Lief 🗽]

A certain level of decorum and respect should be expected in the halls of the Senate, Mr. Attorney General. As for approval ratings, a ridiculously inactive cabinet secretary who should be impeached currently has approvals in the high 60s, so I don't pay much attention to those. The People elected me to stand up to the partisan overreach coming out of this administration, and I intend to do so.

[Lief 🗽]

Perhaps if the Justice Department were as concerned with the safety of opposition Senators as it is with removing as many Labor voters as possible from the voter rolls, I would be less critical of it and its officers. But to come into the Senate and call a sitting Senator and regional legislator "trolls" is beyond the pale, and far beyond any criticisms I have leveled against you or your administration on the Senate floor. I understand that your administration would rather take money from the poor and the sick than an over-active and increasingly partisan branch of your administration, but that is absolutely no reason to engage in personal attacks more befitting a schoolyard than the People's Chamber.

Anyway, the purpose of this thread is to discuss the budget, not for the administration to air its partisan grievances. I hope we can return to that discussion.

[Lief 🗽]

Aye, on the amendment.

It is clear that the DOJ is currently grossly over-funded. Because the Attorney General denies engaging in a partisan witch hunt, I have no other explanation for the parade of frivolous cases they have embarked on, including against citizens who are clearly innocent. These frivolous cases have been criticized by citizens from across the aisle, including the IDS speaker and a sitting court justice.

[Lief 🗽]

Considering the poor state of the national economy (with entire sectors of the economy on the verge of strike, as seen in the Pacific for instance), I don't see the need for a budget surplus at this point in time. I think, more important than nebulous matters like national debt, we should be focusing on lifting up struggling Atlasian workers.

[Lief 🗽]

Nay