James Davis: “today we have a very fundamental choice before us; we can pass the budget resolution that proposes a tax cut over 10…”

“today we have a very fundamental choice before us; we can pass the budget resolution that proposes a tax cut over 10 years of approximately $800 billion, or we can do first things first, and that is we can take up and pass the Spratt amendment, which provides a tax cut of about $137 billion but pays down the publicly held debt, the Federal debt, by more than $137 billion more than the Republican budget proposal. Now, why is that so important? The first thing is it is the right thing to do for our children and grandchildren, and not for them to have to inherit this debt. The second thing is, as we begin to prepare for the retirement of the baby boomers, of which I am one, and funding the solvency of Social Security and Medicare, we are going to need some of those funds to pay that. Thirdly, and perhaps most important, one of the best things we can do to protect our economy right now is to pay down the Federal debt. As Chairman Greenspan has testified before the House Committee on the Budget, it has a direct bearing on interest rates. In my home, Florida and Tampa, where the average mortgage for a homeowner is about $115,000, if we drop interest rates two points, down from 8 to 6 percent, that is $155 a month in that homeowner's pocket they would not otherwise have.”