Vote to Delay the Budget

[Defarge]

Note to Senators:  This motion is being made in order to pass a declaration of war against an irrelevant nation so that we can have a deficit in the budget.  As Senator Al said earlier

We need to be willing to make the tough choices necessary to balance the budget Now not later.

To recap this is the problem we have; there isn't much left to cut from the budget (presuming the provisional one passes unaltered, and it probably won't) that isn't defense related (which for some reasons has always proved impossible to cut in any meaningful way and I don't think there's a majority for it in this Senate) or would be extremely distasteful to most people.
The only alternative to this is to raise taxes. There probably isn't a majority in the Senate that will do that, and even if there is the fragile state of the economy means that significant tax rises will probably have a negative effect on consumer spending, hurling us back into another recession.
In other words we can't balance the budget in the current situation, without causing damage to the economy as or whole or making the lives of a lot of disadvantaged people a hell of a lot worse.

The Senate hereby waives the requirement to approve the Budget before considering any bill or constitutional amendment.

Voting is now open.  A two thirds majority is required for passage.

[Ebowed]

Nay.

[The Dowager Mod]

Nay.

[Ebowed]

I also announce my opposition to the Sealand War Declaration on the following grounds:

1. We do not recognize Sealand as its own sovereign principality; therefore, we are declaring war on territory that we recognize as belonging to the United Kingdom.

2. War is not a light matter.  We cannot just go to war to evade slashing the budget.

3. The stated rationale for the declaration of war is that Sealand has "violated international law" by existing.  If this is our stated purpose, we must seek other nations that recognize this international law and consult with them before declaring war on our own.

[Jake]

I vote Aye in the hope we can find a more suitable candidate for our declaraion of war.

[MasterJedi]

Nay

[Defarge]

One more nay, and this motion will be rejected

[The Duke]

Perhpas we could declare war on, you know, the people we actually are at war with.

[Platypus]

Nay

[Gabu]

Abstain.

[Peter]

Perhpas we could declare war on, you know, the people we actually are at war with.

You are more likely to know than anybody else: Did we ever stop being at war with North Korea? Aren't we on some indefinite truce?

[The Duke]

Perhpas we could declare war on, you know, the people we actually are at war with.

You are more likely to know than anybody else: Did we ever stop being at war with North Korea? Aren't we on some indefinite truce?

I was referring to the war on terrorism, actually.  If it weren't for operation in Iraq and Afghanistan we could cut nearly $100 from the budget immediately, because that's what the ongoing operations cost.  The exemption for times of war as I understand it is to allow the government to run a deficit beyond 2% of GDP when the cost of waging war is what's driving the deficit.  I'd say this is one of those times, and a declaration of war on Al Qaeda might be the best way to do this, seeing as that war is a major driving force behind the deficit.

[Peter]

I knew what you were referring to, but I instinctively question whether its sensible to declare war on something that for all intents and purposes has no territory.

Also, as regards Iraq and Afghanistan, that looks much more like us assisting a legitimate government in maintaining law and order, than it does a "war".

Ultimately, its easiest to seek out an actual country to be at war with since those wars usually end because there is some central authority that you can negoitiate with, or you can simply take over the country via invasion, the same cannot be said as regards Al Qaeda, and thus any declaration of war against them is likely to continue ad nauseum.

As for this Sealand idea: Surely that means we will actually have to recognise it as a separate entity from the UK? Doesn't this cause possible diplomatic problems?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Nay

Declaring war on Sealand was just a joke; I was pretty pissed off last night and have a warped sense of humour.

[The Duke]

I knew what you were referring to, but I instinctively question whether its sensible to declare war on something that for all intents and purposes has no territory.

Yes, but they did declare war on us so this all seems terribly unfair.

[DanielX]

Abstain. I'd be okay with this is if it required that a budget be simultaneously worked on.

I'd suggest we start sending more troops into the mideast, so when the next budget crisis comes about we can smack Syria or Iran around .

[Defarge]

The motion is rejected.  To the budget gentlemen!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I don't think there's a limit on just one vote on delying the budget. If there is well... we're going to have to cheat our way out of this especially now that we have a new Justice to confirm.
If not, I suggest that we vote to overturn the rule that means we have to finish the budget before doing *anything* else; if that passes we can work on the budget and other (and let's face it folks, more important) Senate work.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I don't think there's a limit on just one vote on delying the budget. If there is well... we're going to have to cheat our way out of this especially now that we have a new Justice to confirm.
If not, I suggest that we vote to overturn the rule that means we have to finish the budget before doing *anything* else; if that passes we can work on the budget and other (and let's face it folks, more important) Senate work.

Ahem. You know, this *is* important...

[Emsworth]

I don't think there's a limit on just one vote on delying the budget. If there is well... we're going to have to cheat our way out of this especially now that we have a new Justice to confirm.

Hmm, I think that due to a recently adopted constitutional amendment this rule only applies for legislation. Confirmation votes are allowed to proceed even while the Budget discussion is going on.

[The Dowager Mod]

The motion is rejected.  To the budget gentlemen!

Aight you asked for it.
Where is the last budget?