When the Senate returns from August recess today, it’s expected to vote on the nomination of former Iowa Congressman Jim Nussle to direct the White House Office of Management and Budget. In yesterday’s Huffington Post, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., penned a column stating his case against Nussle’s nomination, which “has much less to do with Mr. Nussle and much more to do with the current failed trickle-down economic policies of the Bush administration. The problem is that the president and his advisors have become increasingly isolated and out of touch with the economic realities facing ordinary Americans,” writes Sanders. “While the middle class continues to shrink, poverty is increasing, the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider, and millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages.”

Just before breaking for August recess, Sanders had placed a hold on Nussle’s nomination for director of the OMB.  “President Bush is completely out of touch with the economic realities facing working families,” said Sanders, announcing his filibuster. “He needs a budget director who will make him face the facts, not his fantasies.” Sanders has been an outspoken critic of Bush’s economic polices and views Nussle’s role in the OMB as a rubber stamp for Bush’s failed economic policies.After laying out his case against Bush’s failed fiscal policies, Sanders shifts his attention to Nussle and why Congress should vote “no” against his White House OMB confirmation:

President Bush desperately needs a budget director who is not afraid to tell the president the truth about these harsh economic realities, not an echo. He needs a budget director who will make him face the facts, not fan his fantasies. And, perhaps most importantly, he needs a budget director who is willing to compromise with a Democratic Congress for the benefit of all of the American people, not just large corporations, and the wealthy few. Unfortunately, I am afraid Jim Nussle is not that person.

A budget, after all, is more than a long list of numbers. The federal budget, like any family budget is a statement of our nation’s values and priorities. In fact, the federal budget is a statement of what our country is all about. We would all, I think, find it irresponsible and counterproductive if a family spent all of their money on an expensive vacation, didn’t have enough money to pay the rent and wound up out on the street. Most of us would view this as an example of misplaced priorities. The family, in this case, is spending money where it shouldn’t and not spending it where it should.

Preparing the federal budget is exactly the same process. It’s about spending taxpayer dollars where we should and not spending it where we should not. It’s about taking a hard look at the needs of our people and prioritizing the budget in an intelligent and rationale way.