Hilda L. Solis: “I rise tonight to discuss President Bush and the House Republicans' proposed budget. As my colleagues may recall, back…”

“I rise tonight to discuss President Bush and the House Republicans' proposed budget. As my colleagues may recall, back in the year 2001, President Bush entered his office enjoying a fiscal surplus that no previous President had ever experienced, over $127 billion in that fiscal year alone, a 10-year surplus projected at $5.6 trillion. Our President also took office with an ambitious plan to provide tax cuts, the number of $1.7 trillion. Democrats warned that a tax cut of this magnitude and time would prove irresponsible. We warned that the tax cuts would reduce the size of the future economy, raise interest rates and prove fiscally unsustainable, but our President chose not to listen. Instead he squandered $1.7 trillion of our Nation's surplus to advance his tax agenda, aiding a very small proportion of Americans, particularly the very wealthy. By the summer of 2001, before the tragedies of September 11, our economy had begun to slow down, and our 10-year surplus was now down from $5.6 trillion to only $575 billion. I bring this point up because we cannot afford to ignore the connection between the current state of our economy and the President's first round of tax cuts. Now that our economy is clearly faltering, Republicans would like to offer still more fiscally irresponsible tax cuts. How do Republicans expect to pay for the second round of $1.7 trillion in tax cuts?”