Cord Byrd: “if this tax cut is such a good idea, why don't we take the time to debate it? Why don't we debate these tax cuts at…”

“if this tax cut is such a good idea, why don't we take the time to debate it? Why don't we debate these tax cuts at length, if this is such a good idea? I say to you, Senators, your votes are going to have consequences. We don't even know yet what the review of the military services and the Defense Department will cost. We don't yet know the cost. That is still out there to be heard from. We don't have an energy policy in this country. We haven't done anything to shore up Social Security. We have crumbling schools. We have dangerous highways. We have unsafe airports. Our people don't have pure drinking water in many of the rural areas. Now is the opportunity for us to do something about those things. What are we going to tell our old people, our senior citizens? This is a red letter day for the American people. Here is the calendar. I will say it is a black day. I remember Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, which marked the beginning of the Great Depression-- Black Tuesday. This is Black Thursday, May 17, 2001. Remember it--Black Thursday. This is a Black Thursday for the American people, a day on which we will have squandered the unalienable right of our elderly citizens to the pursuit of happiness mentioned in our Declaration of Independence. We will have squandered the unalienable right of our elderly citizens to the pursuit of happiness by bartering it for a mess of tax pottage.”