Barbara Kennelly: “as a supporter of the controversial 1990 Bush budget and a supporter of the budget resolution of the equally…”

“as a supporter of the controversial 1990 Bush budget and a supporter of the budget resolution of the equally controversial budget of 1993, I rise tonight to support this budget resolution, hoping it has the same end. CBO recently announced that, in fact, the deficit for this year would be below $70 billion, the lowest in 16 years, a 77-percent reduction in deficit since President Clinton became President. This is tremendous progress. But it would not have happened if it was not for the decisions made by those in 1990 and 1993. I support this resolution because I want to see the job finished. I want to see the budget balanced. But we must say tonight again and again, the hard work has just begun. We must draft implementing legislation that keeps the promise of a balanced budget in the years following 2002. We must insist that the Committee on Ways and Means craft a package that provides needed tax relief to American families. This will be no easy task. In particular, the tax package needs to be crafted in a way that makes it possible to provide the promised tax cuts while at the same time actually measuring in the correct way the cost of these tax cuts. It would be tragic indeed if after years of work the tax cuts were drafted in such a manner that the revenue losses drive up the deficit after 2008. I think we should agree in a bipartisan fashion that such an outcome is not in the interest of the Nation.”