Judd Gregg: “ironically, I came to the floor to talk about some of Vice President Gore's proposals, specifically in the areas he is…”

“ironically, I came to the floor to talk about some of Vice President Gore's proposals, specifically in the areas he is spending money. The fact he has created this Pyrhhic lockbox--not Pyrhhic, this mystical lockbox he is claiming for the extra surplus which has been identified under the new budget estimates, which is mystical because he has already spent the entire surplus plus whatever would occur as a result of the increased estimates on the surplus. In fact, according to the Budget Committee, he spent under the high estimate almost $1 trillion more than the surplus. As a result, he is significantly invading the Social Security accounts. But having listened to the Senator from Massachusetts, I do not believe his words can go unanswered because he has, first, made a number of statements which are inaccurate about Governor Bush's proposals on the drug plans for seniors and, second, I think he has put forward the basic premise of the debate between the two parties on the issues that should be answered.”