Sam Farr: “Mr. Speaker, hearing this debate leads one to believe that the only thing we have to fear is truth itself. The truth…”

“Mr. Speaker, hearing this debate leads one to believe that the only thing we have to fear is truth itself. The truth, according to the tax committee, is that we have in the next 5 years, according to this chart, we have a national fiscal situation that is still in deficit. $137 billion of the fiscal picture is in deficit. We have a $520 billion fiscal picture over the next 5 years which is in the plus side, and that is all in the Social Security account. There is no free lunch in this business. We have to rob from Peter to pay Paul. If we are going to give tax breaks, we have to pay for the lost revenue. And the only surplus that we are going to have is in the Social Security account. That is it. So, we will have to rob from the Social Security account. Now, if this tax plan is not an election year gimmick, I ask the Republican leadership, they have been in the majority for 4 years, if this was such a great tax plan, why did they not bring it to us before, instead of 6 weeks before the election? Mr. Speaker, this is not fiscal responsibility. This is fiscal foolishness, election year fiscal foolishness. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill.”