Bill Bennett: “We have discovered the question of what we should be doing in Iraq is foremost on our constituents' minds. Second, we…”

“We have discovered the question of what we should be doing in Iraq is foremost on our constituents' minds. Second, we have discovered--at least I have--that there is great concern about the size of the deficit. Those two issues were joined in debate in the Senate before we left for the break. I think it appropriate we talk about them together now that the break is over. Let me first turn to the question of the deficit and the debate that took place in this Chamber with respect to the $87 billion that has been requested by the President to pay for the war activities and the reconstruction of Iraq. We were told in this Chamber we had to raise taxes by $87 billion to pay for this, and that if we did not, we would see the deficit go up by $87 billion. We defeated that amendment, but there were those with whom I met during the break who still had that view. The interesting thing we discovered during the break was that the projections for the size of the deficit changed. This is no surprise to anyone who has spent time paying attention to the deficit. As I have said in this Chamber over and over and as I will repeat over and over, the one thing I know with respect to the deficit projections, or surplus projections when those were the order of the day, is that they are wrong.”