Mark Dayton: “I appreciate the Senator's candor with regard to the numbers that have been presented here today because it is my…”

“I appreciate the Senator's candor with regard to the numbers that have been presented here today because it is my understanding--and I am glad the Senator refreshed my memory--that the spending proposals that the administration has sent to the Congress were, in fact, a significant increase, 9 percent, or I believe the Senator said a 13-percent increase in discretionary spending from this fiscal year over to the next, an unheard of increase in discretionary spending. It is also my recollection--I believe the Senator pointed this out-- that, with the change in the budget predictions, the country has gone from looking at surpluses over the next decade to looking at a string of deficits over the next decade. It is this Senator's impression that the administration is trying to put the blame for this fiscal disarray on the Senate or on the House when, in fact, it is the administration's own tax and spending proposals which have created these deficits for this year and for next year, and for as far as the eye can see, and has caused this financial burden to be placed on future generations.”