James Davis: “this remains the dirty little secret about this budget resolution, that we do not have the 10-year price tag associated…”

“this remains the dirty little secret about this budget resolution, that we do not have the 10-year price tag associated with the tax cut, and I stand on my assertion it is an $875 billion tax cut which undermines what should be our Nation's highest priority, paying down the debt. In 1999, we spent $230 billion on interest payments alone on this $3.47 trillion Federal debt. That is 13 percent of our total spending. It is more than we spend on Medicare. It is slightly less than what we spend on national defense. Paying down the Federal debt should be our highest priority. It contributes to lower interest rates. It allows us to preserve the solvency of Social Security and Medicare for the retirement of the baby boomers, and we cannot do that and sustain an $875 billion tax cut. We ought to be willing to talk about it. We ought to be honest with the American public. We ought to do responsible tax cuts, but we ought to pay down the Federal debt first.”