The states got themselves into this budget mess by spending recklessly.

No scandal in Congress this year is more outrageous than the budget mess.

I was working all hours on the budget mess.

But please remember how the country got into its budget mess.

He had hoped to begin by now, but said the budget mess has delayed things.

At the heart of the election was the budget mess.

Whoever ends up in the governor's office will face the same budget mess.

The current budget mess is only the latest sign of dysfunction in Sacramento.

But legislators said the effort was at least a step in the urgent process of finding a way to resolve the state's budget mess.

Given the county's budget mess, he may be called on to shrink the force a bit.