On the recordJuly 13, 2011
Madam President, I know we have a vote that is coming up momentarily, but I just wanted to say my wish for those folks who are huddling up down at the White House every day: Don't miss this opportunity for a grand bargain to do something serious about deficit reduction. That is why I am concerned about Senator McConnell's proposal because it would take us off that practice. When they look at that real opportunity for $4 trillion of deficit reduction, they ought to look at the proposal of the Senate Budget Committee--$4 trillion, $2 trillion of which over 10 years comes out of the $14 trillion of the tax expenditures--or tax preferences that special interests have. We would only have to take from 9 to 17 percent of all that $14 trillion of tax preferences in order to produce the $2 trillion of revenue over 10 years. I have just put that issue to a panel of experts in a joint Ways and Means-Finance Committee meeting as to what they would recommend, and I will talk about that later today. With that, I yield the floor.
