Mike Levin: “I think what gripes him and what gripes me is not simply being in the minority, but your fiscal irresponsibility. For…”

“I think what gripes him and what gripes me is not simply being in the minority, but your fiscal irresponsibility. For the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means to rise and call himself a fiscal conservative, when under this majority we have seen the surplus essentially evaporate, other than Social Security, and the Social Security surplus threatened, to call that fiscal conservatism? You essentially are the fiscal radicals. I favor marriage tax relief and have voted for it, so I would say to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller), do not get up here and say otherwise. And so have most Democrats. The issue is whether we can combine that relief with fiscal responsibility. We say we can do both, and essentially what you do is to throw away the future. You go through the roof and, then you say 'if Congress,' 'if Congress,' 'if.' We have seen your record of fiscal irresponsibility. You do not want to vote on the debt ceiling separately. You are doing everything you can to avoid it, and at the same time you are passing bills that make the debt worse, worse, worse.”