Cord Byrd: “I thank both of the managers again. I respect their reasons for opposing my amendment. I hope the Senate will adopt my…”

“I thank both of the managers again. I respect their reasons for opposing my amendment. I hope the Senate will adopt my amendment later. Reference has been made to President Reagan's 5-year deficit/surplus estimates. Those projected surpluses in that instance were as follows: In 1982, the projected deficit was $45 billion; the actual deficit was $128 billion. The projected surplus for 1985 was $5.9 billion--that was the projected surplus under the Reagan administration tax cut--whereas instead of a $5.9 billion surplus, the actual deficit was $212 billion. In other words, for the 5 years projected under the Reagan tax cut, the difference between the projected deficit and the actual deficit was $921 billion. That experience should teach us to be cautious. I close by referring to Joseph in the Bible. We will recall that Pharoah had a dream in which he saw seven fat cattle come up out of the river to feed in a meadow. They are referred to as ``kine'' in the Scriptures. They were followed by seven lean cattle who ate up the seven fat cattle. Pharoah turned to his soothsayers, his wise men, for interpretation of this dream, but they could not interpret the dream. Someone spoke of Joseph as one who could interpret dreams, so Pharoah asked that Joseph, be brought forth from the dungeon where he was being held. Joseph interpreted the dream to mean that there would first be 7 years of plenty, represented by the fat cattle in Pharoah's dream--7 years of plenty.…”