Cord Byrd: “historian and author Henry Adams wrote that ``practical politics consists in ignoring facts.'' Here is a fact. Without…”

“historian and author Henry Adams wrote that ``practical politics consists in ignoring facts.'' Here is a fact. Without offsets, we cannot afford to continue to cram hundreds of billions of dollars of new tax cuts into the federal budget. To create the illusion of affordability, this budget already excludes the costs of the war in Iraq beyond next year. It excludes the costs of protecting middle-income taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax beyond next year. It excludes the costs of putting Social Security and Medicare on sounder footings. It excludes a host of critical domestic investments--everything from education funding to highway maintenance-- and continue to postpone them year after year. Even while it excludes or hides all of these inevitable costs, this budget still projects that our national debt will continue to rise to stratospheric levels. Here is another fact. Relying primarily on domestic discretionary funding cuts will never, never seriously reduce the annual spending-spree deficits of this administration. The part of the federal budget known as domestic discretionary spending comprises only one-sixth of the total federal budget. The squeeze on domestic discretionary spending these past few years has already produced funding shortfalls that are not only impractical, but also wholly irresponsible and damaging to our country's future. These cuts have real-world consequences. They are not just accounting exercises.…”